Fletcher gone!

[smoggeordie 0]

Duncan Fletcher will step down as England coach after their last World Cup match against West Indies on Saturday, the BBC understands.

 

Peter Moores, currently the England Academy coach, will take over on a temporary basis.

 

He will be in charge until the Schofield report, into the Ashes debacle and World Cup failure, is published in early May.

 

Fletcher, 58, has been England coach since 1999.

 

David Morgan, the England and Wales Cricket Board chairman, is set to confirm Fletcher's departure at a news conference scheduled for 1630 BST.

 

Fletcher had come under increasing pressure after England were beaten 5-0 in the Ashes series and then failed to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

 

They exited the World Cup after a humiliating nine-wicket loss to South Africa on Tuesday.

 

The ECB would not comment ahead of the Thursday's news conference.

 

Spokesman Andrew Walpole would say only: "We are aware of the issues being discussed and we feel the best way to deal with that is on Thursday and the best person to deal with it is the chairman."

 

Asked whether Fletcher had already resigned, Walpole refused to comment and stressed: "I am not going to answer any questions - you can address all your questions to David Morgan."

 

Fletcher decided against holding his usual post-match news conference after England crashed out of the World Cup.

 

Instead he played a round of golf with England captain Michael Vaughan in Barbados on Wednesday.

 

BBC Sports Editor Mihir Bose said: "The performance at the World Cup has clearly not been good enough and Peter Moores will take over on a temporary basis.

 

"Clearly the preparation ahead of the Ashes went wrong. If you look back at that first wide ball that Stephen Harmison bowled it was clear that the preparation wasn't there.

 

"As for one-day cricket, England have never been very good."

 

England play West Indies in their final Super 8 match in Barbados on Saturday and then face them in a Test series in England, starting 17 May.

[Guest alex]

Pretty inevitable. Worked wonders with the test side upto the Ashes win but I think it was time for him to go. Never got the one-day balance right and the test side have gone into pretty rapid decline over the last 18 months - 2 years. Bob Woolmer would have had a very good chance of getting the gig too.

[paddy 17]

'bout fookin time

[luckyluke 2]

Should have been sacked once he published how we outsmarted the Aussies in book for all the world to read IMO, which epitomised the England team's obsession with fame and fortune since that series.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...23/scboyc23.xml

 

Boycott column from six months ago. Pretty much sums it up.