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| February 18, 2002 | Monday | Zilhaj 5, 1422 |
Fletcher urges England to improve quickly
WELLINGTON, Feb 17: England coach Duncan Fletcher has warned his team they must improve quickly to stand any chance of performing in next year’s World Cup, following their humbling defeat by New Zealand in Wellington.
Fletcher has seen his side go 2-0 down against New Zealand in the five-match series, and their confidence was shattered by a 155-run demolition Saturday evening.
England were bowled out for just 89 by the confident Kiwis who can wrap up the one-day series with victory in Napier Wednesday evening.
Fletcher and captain Nasser Hussain have insisted throughout this winter that their primary aim is to plan for next year’s World Cup in South Africa. England will have played 16 One-day Internationals this winter at the end of the New Zealand series, by which time Fletcher hopes to have identified the key parts of his World Cup campaign.
After beating Zimbabwe 5-0 and completing a stunning comeback in India, Fletcher’s side have been poor in New Zealand and face a huge task in trying to get anything out of the series.
With three games to go fringe members of the squad such as Owais Shah, Jamie Foster, Jeremy Snape and Paul Collingwood, plus experienced campaigner Andy Caddick, are running out of time to impress a coach whose patience is wearing thin.
“It has been disappointing because we played some good cricket in India but suddenly things have stopped working out,” Fletcher said.
“When you look at the mental aspect it is very difficult to get inside these guys’ brains.
“Technically you can see what’s going wrong but when it’s mental it’s harder. We have got to look at them and ask ourselves if we have over-cooked them. We have a lot of young guys who have never played this much cricket.
“After the game we chatted for 30 minutes going through things and getting the guys to put their hands up. A few different issues were discussed.
“We were hoping to have a good idea about our World Cup squad after this winter. We wanted to have had a good look at everyone which we have done. Players have had a run in the side and the decision will be made after this tour as to what the future squad will be.”
Fletcher has insisted his side can fight back against New Zealand and has ruled out a massive shake-up of the side before the next match.
“We thought yesterday was the best 11 and you can’t judge them on one performance,” he said. “It was not a true assessment of their ability. We might have to give them another chance. It wasn’t that long ago that this New Zealand team were in South Africa having a shocker but here they are now having turned it around. We have come back in India where it is very difficult to play, and we are only 2-0 down here.”
The England players were given a day off Sunday and will travel to Napier Monday where they will practice ahead of the next match with New Zealand.
England’s tour is not without its problems but there are no alarm bells ringing, captain Nasser Hussain said Sunday.
“Nothing concerns me — two games ago everyone was writing good things about us in India,” said Hussain. “Two games later we’re not suddenly a bad side.”
“Every now and then you have games like New Zealand did in Australia where the opposition simply outplay you. You have days like this and you have to pick yourself up. I firmly believe we have the ability to beat New Zealand, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
Meanwhile, match referee Denis Lindsay of South Africa was reported to have stepped in to ease tensions between the teams.
Lindsay asked captains Stephen Fleming and Hussain to cool their teams down before Saturday’s one-dayer after an incident in the first match in Christchurch.
The Sunday Mirror in Britain said New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent claimed he was called a “cheat” by an England player while batting in Christchurch.
The English were apparently upset after Vincent claimed a catch earlier in the match to dismiss Andrew Flintoff.—Agencies
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