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| December 30, 2006 | Saturday | Zilhaj 08, 1427 |
‘My team didn’t surrender at Melbourne’
SYDNEY, Dec 29: England cricket team’s coach Duncan Fletcher has dismissed claims his team gave up during their humiliating three-day loss to Australia in the fourth Ashes Test.
Several former England captains, including Mike Gatting, Nasser Hussain and Ian Botham, have launched a scathing attack on Fletcher's team after they were thrashed by an innings and 99 runs inside three days in Melbourne.
It was England's heaviest Test defeat in Australia in more than half a century and left the tourists facing the prospect of becoming the first team to concede an Ashes clean sweep since 1921.
But Fletcher, who has borne the brunt of the criticism, hit back at claims his team had thrown in the towel. “You go into the change room and see how despondent they were,” he told a news conference in Melbourne on Friday. “If they weren't trying then I'd say they've let us down, but they're trying their damnedest.”
Fletcher said he was confident they could end the series on a high note by winning next week’s final Test in Sydney.
England lost the first four Tests on their last tour to Australia in 2002-03 but won the last match to avoid a whitewash. “I've got to believe we can do it because we did it last time we were here,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher conceded England had got some selections wrong and needed to learn from their mistakes, but he refused to specify which selections had been a mistake.
Fletcher has been heavily criticised for choosing spinner Ashley Giles ahead of Monty Panesar and wicket-keeper Geraint Jones ahead of Chris Read.
Both the decisions were made to look foolish when Panesar became the first English spinner to capture five wickets in an innings at Perth and Read took a record equalling six catches in an innings in Melbourne.
“We've made some mistakes and we will reflect on it when we get back after the tour, like we do any other series,” Fletcher said. “We will reflect on it and make sure we try not to make those mistakes again.” —Reuters
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