Sir Geoffrey Boycott sends England warning and questions Ben Stokes after Test collapse

Sir Geoffrey Boycott has bemoaned England's batting approach after they were .

After a record-breaking first Test success, the tourists were bought back down to earth in Multan to leave the three-Test series in the balance ahead of the decider. In pursuit of victory, England were bowled out for just 144 as they struggled to adapt to the pitch.

They didn't even make it to lunch on day four as several of their dismissals showed a lack of willingness to adapt to the conditions. Boycott bemoaned England's narrow-minded approach it comes to their batting, citing their desire to stand by their Bazball principles.

He wrote in : "If our guys are honest with themselves as a team they should be asking why on big spinning pitches do they have these big collapses?

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

"One guy will get a big score like Ben Duckett in the first innings but as a unit the top order tends to crumble. It happened in India far too often. The only Test match they won in that series earlier this year was when Ollie Pope put on a one-man show and scored a fabulous 196 in Hyderabad.

"I think they have these failures because the players only have one way of batting which is attack, attack, attack to get on top of the opposition bowlers and bully them into submission."

Captain has drawn individual criticism, with Boycott questioning his need to go big after doing the initial hard yards. "The captain Ben Stokes was stumped, or again run out, trying a wild slog after he had done the hard work and played himself in. Why?" he said.

The England skipper himself was not overly down following the loss, despite the manner. Stokes insisting England had done "a pretty decent job" to post the score they did - even if it left them 152 runs short of their target.

Boycott refused to entertain the spinning pitch, which allowed two Pakistan bowlers to take all 20 wickets between them, as an excuse for England. He criticised the shot selection of the England order as they continued to fall cheaply with Stokes the only man to make it past 30.

He said: "Spinning pitches have been around since was invented and batsmen of yesteryear scored runs without too much sweeping. DRS now makes orthodox sweeping more dangerous, whereas the reverse sweep looks a better option. I think sweeping would be better used occasionally, and mixed in with the orthodox, safer strokes."