Boycott slams 'spineless' England

great Geoffrey Boycott has slammed the current side for 'spinelessly' collapsing during their innings-and-23-run first Test defeat against the West Indies in Jamaica.He also accused England's backroom staff of "virtually wiping the players bottoms for them", adding their presence inhibited team members from thinking for themselves.England were bowled out for just 51 - their third lowest innings total of all-time - at Sabina Park on Saturday and former Yorkshire opener Boycott said too many players had enjoyed an extended run in the side which was not justified by their form."Look at the players who capitulated so spinelessly at Sabina Park and you will see that almost all of them appeared in Peter Moores's first series as coach back in 2007," Boycott wrote in his column in Monday's Daily Telegraph."I have nothing against continuity if a team are winning. But haven't England been getting their backsides kicked around the world for the past two years?""Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff are still great players who would get into any side on the plant. But what about the rest of this sorry lot?"Alistair Cook still has the same technical issues outside off-stump that the Australians exploited in the last Ashes series."Ian Bell still keels over at the first hint of pressure," Boycott, one of the best defensive batsmen of his generation, added."Steve Harmison still blows hot and cold. And Monty Panesar still bowls the same ball six times an over."Boycott added an extensive backroom staff was preventing players taking responsibility for their performances - the mantra of new England captain Andrew Strauss. "These lads just have it too easy," Boycott said. "There is no motivation to improve when they have more than a dozen backroom staff to analyse their techniques, put out the cones at training, and virtually wipe their bottoms for them."I feel sorry for these modern players, because they don't have the chance to think for themselves and develop their own characters."The second Test of this four-match series begins on Friday in Antigua