Boycott calls for England job split after 'shambles'

Published on Saturday 6 January 2007 11:42

FORMER England captain Geoff Boycott has called for coach Duncan Fletcher to step down after this year's World Cup and for his role to be split in two to allow separate focus on the Test and one-day teams.

The ex-Yorkshire opener believes former New Zealand batsman John Wright, previously coach of India, is the man to lead England into the next Ashes series.

And he believes current Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody or Dean Jones, both former Australia internationals, should be put in charge of the one-day set-up.

"This tour has been a shambles from first to last and it is about time that certain people admitted that," said Boycott, who led the national side four times in 1978 and scored 8,114 Test career runs.

"The first thing I want to see is the coach, Duncan Fletcher, taking responsibility for his mistakes and announcing that he will retire after the World Cup.

"Fletcher has given some good years to English cricket. Best of all, he got us to the pinnacle of beating Australia in 2005.

"Equally, though, English cricket has been good to him, paying him the highest salary in the game. He earns approximately 250,000 a year, which is nearly double what anyone else gets around the world. I hope he will retire with dignity and a golden handshake.

"My preferred option for Fletcher's successor would be John Wright, the former New Zealand batsman who helped India learn how to win Test matches overseas.

"He is a firm hand in a soft glove and I know he would be interested in the job."

Boycott also believes the England and Wales Cricket Board now need think radically if they are to raise the current poor standing of the one-day side.

"The other idea England should consider is splitting the job in half, so that they have one coach for the Test team and one for one-day internationals," he wrote in his Daily Telegraph column.

"It would be revolutionary, but you should never disparage an idea just because nobody else has tried it. Appointing a specialised one-day coach would send a message out that this is not just hit-and-giggle cricket - it is important to the standing of our game.

"The right person for this job would be someone like Dean Jones or Tom Moody. They were both excellent one-day players and they would be up for the job.

"English cricket has still not fully embraced the short game: We need to start focusing on winning these tournaments rather than just treating them as chores."