Video: Cricket legend Geoffrey Boycott goes into bat for Yorkshire Air Ambulance

As a formidable batsman he represented the county with distinction for more than two decades.
Geoffrey Boycott pictured at his home at Boston Spa...SH10014340h...6th October 2015 Picture by Simon HulmeGeoffrey Boycott pictured at his home at Boston Spa...SH10014340h...6th October 2015 Picture by Simon Hulme
Geoffrey Boycott pictured at his home at Boston Spa...SH10014340h...6th October 2015 Picture by Simon Hulme

Now cricket legend Geoffrey Boycott is hoping to use his clout to life-saving effect as he begins a vital innings as an ambassador for one of Yorkshire’s most high-profile charities.

The former England man has accepted an invitation to become a patron for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) after helping to raise more than £1million for the charity in the last year.

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“I’m delighted to have been asked,” he said. “It’s a marvellous charity, serving Yorkshire – our county – and I’ll do anything I can to help.”

Geoffrey Boycott pictured at his home at Boston Spa...SH10014340h...6th October 2015 Picture by Simon HulmeGeoffrey Boycott pictured at his home at Boston Spa...SH10014340h...6th October 2015 Picture by Simon Hulme
Geoffrey Boycott pictured at his home at Boston Spa...SH10014340h...6th October 2015 Picture by Simon Hulme

Boycott and his wife, Rachael, held a lavish fundraising dinner in the garden of their home in Boston Spa, near Leeds, earlier this year which raised about £35,000. But, keen to do more to help, Boycott then wrote to Chancellor George Osborne to request Government funding.

He said: “I didn’t really expect a reply – I thought it would get lost with all the other correspondence he gets. But four days later I had a phone call from his secretary asking me if I had a minute to speak to the Chancellor and he said he’d give £1million for the air ambulance.”

Boycott follows in the footsteps of another Yorkshire cricket legend, Fred Trueman, as a patron of the charity.

The charity’s chairman Peter Sunderland, said: “As a Yorkshireman with a prominent international reputation, who better than Geoffrey Boycott to spread the word?”