Boycott is a pretty good judge of batting.. and he sees no great need for major changes: in his view the players are good enough.. they just need to go away, work hard and come back stronger.

Two have clear (but resolvable) issues to address... neither of which should take much sorting out:

1. Strauss' footwork needs work, both going forwards and playing back (where he's retreating, but not getting across far enough).

2. Cook's tendency to lead with his bat (whn he should be offerring bat and pad together) needs eradicating.

Boycott has not voiced any concerns whatsoever about Bell or Pietersen (who've been pretty well exemplary). I'm not sure he's fully convinced by Collingwood playing higher than at six... but where he saw issues to do with Collingwood's top elbow in the past he's been quiet this tour.

In fairness... Boycott's comparatively unconcerned when it comes to most of the rest of the side as well: he notes that Flintoff's just not had enough time in the middle since returning from injury... argued from the start that Read has been treated appallingly (not least by being given no parallel fixtures during the Test matches).. and refuses (rightly) to pass harsh judgement on most of the bowlers on the grounds that most have been asked to perform without matches under their belts - he reckons they primarily need to play for their counties week in, week out and get some overs under their belts.

I'm inclined to agree: Mahmood's the only player I'd single out as a flop.... and that's more, to my mind, a selection ****-up (as he's just no-where near ready for Test cricket yet).

ps. Boycott rates Anderson highly... but another (non-Boycott) observation in the night concerned his inability to swing the ball both ways: the recommendation was that he went and worked on an off-cutter instead. Hoggard cracked it... so I don't see why Anderson shouldn't.