Geoffrey Boycott: Former cricketer sorry for 'unacceptable' comment

Former England cricketer and BBC commentator Geoffrey Boycott has apologised for an "unacceptable" comment about West Indian cricketers.

Boycott is reported to have said it would be more likely he would be knighted if he was to 'black his face'.

It is also claimed he said some knighthoods were handed out like "confetti" to West Indies greats.

The 76-year-old has now described his comments at a Q&A in Birmingham on Saturday as "clearly wrong".

The Yorkshireman added he loves West Indian cricket and has "the utmost respect for its players".

The Q&A event, hosted by Sky Sports presenter Gary Newbon, was held during a break in play and was attended by about 200 people.

Waheed Saleem, who was in the audience, told BBC Sport: "I was completely disgusted. I don't think anyone saw it as a light-hearted joke. I was absolutely gobsmacked."

Boycott was part of the BBC's Test Match Special commentary team for England's day-night Test against West Indies at Edgbaston last week.

A BBC spokesperson said: "He has rightly apologised unreservedly for these clearly unacceptable comments.

"We use a number of different contributors in our cricket coverage. He remains part of our team."

A spokesperson for Warwickshire County Cricket Club said: "We were very disappointed by Geoffrey's comments and are pleased to see that he has apologised and recognised that it was unacceptable."

Apology means very little in this case. His thought process is very revealing. He seems to somehow feel that his batting achievements warrant a knighthood. The fact that he raised the issue about several WI players getting a knighthood does suggests that he feels a greater entitlement, given that he he white.

in which case Boyc's is a stupid man

as TD explained on the Pitch a west indian knighthood is a simple matter of a west indian government recommendation a name from a quota deh are given I imagine. it has nutten to do with the english process of distributing knighthoods

how come Boycs does not know this ::confused::

if he does know he ought not to be complaining about west indian knighthoods then....not as if deh sharing knighthoods in the west indies

but know or not Boycs is bitter about this.