Akhila Ranganna: Hello and welcome to Bowl at Boycs. With me is Geoffrey Boycott to answer the questions that have come in for him.

The first one is from Nick from Liverpool, who asks: now that Andrew Flintoff has retired, and with Steve Harmison approaching the end of his career, the main gap in England`s bowling attack seems to be an express pace bowler. The only alternative Nick can think of is Sajid Mahmood of Lancashire. However, his record is modest, although clearly he has talent. Who do you think is a good candidate to be England`s next out-and-out pace bowler?

Geoffrey Boycott: That`s a tough one. I think everybody in the world is searching for pace bowlers, because pace bowlers win you Tests. As you have heard me say before, if you have got quality spinners in India and Sri Lanka, then you win matches, because of the nature of their pitches. But in most of the world it`s fast bowlers - they are the aces in the pack.

The only kid I can see at the moment in England is a young man in Yorkshire called Ajmal Shahzad. He`s of Pakistani descent his parents live near the ground. We have had him for a while, like quite a number of Pakistani youngsters. We have about three talented ones at the moment. Everybody knows about Adil Rashid, the legspinner who bats. We also have an under-19 kid who bowls offspin and bats. And then this kid, Ajmal. Now he`s had a stress fracture in his back, he`s a bit overweight and the coaches have worked with him on his fitness and his action. And suddenly he has come to the fore. He hasn`t pulled up a lot of trees - as we would say in Yorkshire - but he has just caught the imagination of people who are looking for quick bowlers. At the end of the season he was called into the squad at Loughborough - that`s where the ECB`s academy is - and he was called in, to the next lot of players who could make it to the England set-up in the next one to three years.

I do have a view about fast bowlers. I believe the quality fast bowlers are there - nobody knows about them except a few people, and they suddenly explode on the scene. This kid might be the same. He might fizzle away like a damp squib, I don`t know, but there aren`t any around.

Mahmood has had lots of opportunities. People have been watching him to come forward. He has a bit of pace but he has a floppy wrist and I am afraid he doesn`t cut it. The thing is, if you have got fast bowlers, you can win Tests.

AR: Suraj Gautam from Nepal wants to know what you make of the selectors` decision to drop Rahul Dravid from the ODI team against Australia. Hasn`t he been given a raw deal? After all, he did his job - shore up the middle order in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy.

GB: I don`t think anything has gone wrong. I think he did a good job. He did exactly what was hoped of him, and if anybody knows Dravid, they know that he is a super professional. He is a lovely lad and an absolute delight to be with.

I think it is a question of before he was picked: the selectors were looking to move on. They know the Tendulkars, Dravids, Laxmans are getting older, and they were trying to find younger players. But some of the young players haven`t cut it. When they came to England, they struggled. They put Dravid in to bolster it up. I think it was a short-term idea and a very good idea.

I have mixed views about this because I am a supporter of Dravid. I always have been. I understand and like his cricket and I think he has been fantastic for the world game, not just India. But I can understand the selectors` thinking: one-day cricket is a reasonably youngish game. You have to throw yourselves around, and India`s outfielding hasn`t been special. India keep looking for new boys to step up to the plate. You can`t keep on waiting for the Tendulkars and Dravids to do it.

I think that is what they are doing again. They are saying: look, you [the younger players] should be able to play in India. The pitches don`t bounce as high or move off the seam. If you can`t do it in India, you are never going to do it. I think they have gone back to the fact that there is an opportunity for some youngsters to play on their home surfaces and they are going to try them out again. I don`t think it is a really bad reflection on Dravid. I think it is matter of the selectors looking ahead. The World Cup is going to be in India and it`s just a year and a half away. It sounds a long way away but it is not.

Although I have mixed views and I think he has done a good job, I think the selectors are looking a bit ahead to the future.



`India should always make India tough. Nobody should beat them at home. It should be the bastion of Indian cricket. They should say: come and play in our backyard and we will beat you`



AR: Mark from Sydney wants to know: how do you see the seven-match ODI series between India and Australia shaping up? Australia have shown what it takes to be best side in the world, while India, he feels, have flattered to deceive, going by recent results. How crucial is this series for them and the captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni?

GB: I have no problems with Dhoni. I think he is a smashing cricketer and a great guy. I am amazed that he is carrying on as captain - it is such a tough ask to keep wicket, captain and bat down the order as an allrounder. He`s doing a good job because he has a strong character and is mentally very tough. India in India are usually tough for anybody to beat. They have to be tough. This is their home territory and they have to win. They can`t allow Australia to come into their backyard and beat them.

Australia is a fantastic side - not as great as they were we`ve seen that England has beaten them. They have lost some of their great players. They haven`t got many spinners. They have the offspinner, Nathan Hauritz, and if you treat him sensibly you should be able to play him. He`s not a mug and is a decent bowler, especially in one-dayers.

Australia will fight with their batsmen and it is a big series. Not so much for Dhoni but for the players and the country. India should always make India tough. Nobody should beat them at home. It should be the bastion of Indian cricket. They should say: come and play in our backyard and we will beat you. From that point of view, they should get back on the horse, and ride it like the kings they are normally. When anybody comes to India, they have a problem. India have to beat Australia and beat them comfortably.

AR: Nihal from Mumbai writes in asking: none of the IPL teams made it to the semis of the Champions League. Why do you think this happened? Do you think it exposes the frailties of teams that are made of players who rarely play together?

GB: I think it is definitely a problem. Cricketers like to know what position they bat, what their job is while bowling. The great players don`t bother, but most other players like to have a set role and know what that is. As I have said before, I don`t think the Champions League will take off like the IPL. The IPL teams not making it to the semis doesn`t upset me or catch me out, and I am not surprised by it. I wouldn`t think the crowds are special to watch these teams.

AR: Keith from Cape Town says, we have seen bowlers like Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan have a lot of initial success and then fall away. Most notably they lose pace after a year or two on the circuit. What do you think could be the problem? How can young fast bowlers guard against this?

GB: Good question, Keith. I would like to mention two things here. One is to do with the food, diet and physical fitness of the Indian bowlers. The other is to do with the nature of the being.

I have always thought of Indian people on the whole as gentle, nice, polite and warm people. When you are a fast bowler, you need to have some real aggression. You have got to hate the batsman to some degree when you are bowling. I am not sure that is in the Indian make-up. Most Indians are Hindu and they don`t eat meat and they eat very late at night. It`s not good to go to bed after eating around 10.30pm or later. Athletes around the world eat at a sensible hour, around 7 or 7.30 in the evening. And they work very hard at their physical fitness. India have never had an out-and-out fast bowler. They have had a truly great fast-medium swing bowler in Kapil Dev. They have had good, but not great, seamers. There are so many that come and go and are much of a muchness. They come on the scene and promise a lot, but after a couple of years they fizzle out.


`Many Indian seamers come on the scene and promise a lot but after a couple of years they fizzle out` Getty Images


Pakistan, over their history, have delivered fast bowlers. They are meat eaters and are aggressive. You have Shoaib Akhtar recently. You have had Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, who have been fantastic, aggressive fast bowlers. I think it is in their nature.

Also, pitches in India don`t help. You have flat pitches in Pakistan anyhow and they get through it. But they don`t have so many turning pitches in Pakistan they are just flat. In India you have a lot of pitches that start very good and flat but then they start to take spin. So a lot of young kids turn to being a spinner. If you are going to help the fast bowlers, you need pace and bounce.

You can have the [MRF] pace bowling academy [in Chennai] with Dennis Lillee, who is a champion. But after he has helped a lot of bowlers, if they are going to go and bowl on the flattest pitches of all time, then kids are going to go turn to something that will get them a bit of success, like batting or spin bowling.

AR: And now to the question that you have picked as the best one that has come in for you this week. It`s from Angus Wagstaff from Australia, who asks: with the end of the decade approaching, who do you think is the best cricketer of the decade?

GB: Great question, Angus, I wasn`t expecting it actually....