Sir Geoffrey Boycott returns to Headingley for first time since cancer operation

Sir Geoffrey Boycott returned to Headingley for the first time since his cancer operation in July to watch England take on Australia in the second one-day international on Saturday.

Boycott, who turns 84 in October, is recovering from major surgery after throat cancer returned more than two decades after he had fought off the illness. His recovery from surgery was complicated by when he contracted pneumonia in hospital and and relapsed a few days after he was discharged.

He was left fighting for his life but is slowly regaining strength and the Headingley visit was the next stage of his recovery. It was his first outing after leaving hospital more than six weeks ago.

Boycott, who has continued to write for Telegraph Sport during his recuperation, is on a liquid diet but hopes to be fully recovered by the end of the year.

“I am still here because of the quick thinking of my wife Rachael. She recognised I had taken a turn for the worse in my recovery from surgery for throat cancer,” he wrote for Telegraph Sport recently. “I was recuperating at home from the operation and felt pretty good at first but overnight I became delirious, was not talking properly and looked awful. We had a pulse oximeter at home which she put on my finger and it recorded my blood oxygen level at 35 per cent. That is when she knew there was a major problem and called an ambulance. I was rushed back in, put on oxygen and diagnosed with pneumonia.

“It has knocked hell out of me and if Rachael had not acted so quickly I am pretty sure I would not have made it through the night. She saved my life, no doubt about that.”