The coach under a banyan tree!
Fletcher takes long-term path in search for enlightenment
From Richard Hobson, One-Day Cricket Correspondent in Jamshedpur
IT WAS not far from here that the Buddha supposedly found enlightenment while sitting under a banyan tree. Given England’s difficulties in the one-day series against India, they could also use some inspiration, but to listen to Duncan Fletcher yesterday was to imagine that the coach has everything under control.
Fletcher was on the grumpier side of serene as the squad embarked on the two flights carrying them southwest from Guwhati to Jamshedpur before the sixth and penultimate match in the series tomorrow, but even England being 4-0 down against a transitional India team will not distract him from his chosen long-term path.
He said that he is planning all the way through to the World Cup in the Caribbean next year, even though the final is 12 months away. In the shortest term this could mean that Andrew Flintoff sits out the next match. In the longer term, Fletcher hinted that players will not be risked during the ICC Champions Trophy in October.
“I am looking at September and beyond when other people are only looking at next week,” Fletcher said. “You have to look forward at the programme all the time.”
Regardless of whether Flintoff plays here or in the final match in Indore on Saturday, he is likely to make only a single appearance for Lancashire before the first Test against Sri Lanka on May 11. Fletcher said that the acting captain will have two weeks off at the end of the tour. “We want to rest him whenever we can,” he said.
Andrew Chandler, Flintoff’s agent, has suggested that his client should sit out the Champions Trophy in India to recharge his batteries before the Ashes and the World Cup. Countries are duty-bound to field their best teams, but the ICC has no way of verifying injury.
It is rare that a player with the workload and medical history of Flintoff does not have some minor strain or other and Fletcher said: “We are going to have to look at the Champions Trophy to see what our attitude is. Do we go across there with a player who has a slight injury or not, if there is a risk involved?” One absentee seems sure to be the focus of interest tomorrow. Jamshedpur, a steel city towards the east of the country, is close to the Bengal heartland of Sourav Ganguly, and groups are reported to be preparing to protest at the continued omission of the former captain.
For England, the remaining internationals are surely best used to judge whether fringe players are equipped to go through to next year. “There is a good chance we have seen all the players we are going to look at,” Fletcher said, with the World Cup in mind. “But at this stage anything could happen.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,426-2127946,00.html
Fletcher takes long-term path in search for enlightenment
From Richard Hobson, One-Day Cricket Correspondent in Jamshedpur
IT WAS not far from here that the Buddha supposedly found enlightenment while sitting under a banyan tree. Given England’s difficulties in the one-day series against India, they could also use some inspiration, but to listen to Duncan Fletcher yesterday was to imagine that the coach has everything under control.
Fletcher was on the grumpier side of serene as the squad embarked on the two flights carrying them southwest from Guwhati to Jamshedpur before the sixth and penultimate match in the series tomorrow, but even England being 4-0 down against a transitional India team will not distract him from his chosen long-term path.
He said that he is planning all the way through to the World Cup in the Caribbean next year, even though the final is 12 months away. In the shortest term this could mean that Andrew Flintoff sits out the next match. In the longer term, Fletcher hinted that players will not be risked during the ICC Champions Trophy in October.
“I am looking at September and beyond when other people are only looking at next week,” Fletcher said. “You have to look forward at the programme all the time.”
Regardless of whether Flintoff plays here or in the final match in Indore on Saturday, he is likely to make only a single appearance for Lancashire before the first Test against Sri Lanka on May 11. Fletcher said that the acting captain will have two weeks off at the end of the tour. “We want to rest him whenever we can,” he said.
Andrew Chandler, Flintoff’s agent, has suggested that his client should sit out the Champions Trophy in India to recharge his batteries before the Ashes and the World Cup. Countries are duty-bound to field their best teams, but the ICC has no way of verifying injury.
It is rare that a player with the workload and medical history of Flintoff does not have some minor strain or other and Fletcher said: “We are going to have to look at the Champions Trophy to see what our attitude is. Do we go across there with a player who has a slight injury or not, if there is a risk involved?” One absentee seems sure to be the focus of interest tomorrow. Jamshedpur, a steel city towards the east of the country, is close to the Bengal heartland of Sourav Ganguly, and groups are reported to be preparing to protest at the continued omission of the former captain.
For England, the remaining internationals are surely best used to judge whether fringe players are equipped to go through to next year. “There is a good chance we have seen all the players we are going to look at,” Fletcher said, with the World Cup in mind. “But at this stage anything could happen.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,426-2127946,00.html