Sports Bureau
New Delhi: Duncan Fletcher to be new coach of Team India. According to top sources of BCCI, the name of Fletcher is cleared for the coach post. Fletcher was Zimbabwe`s first-ever One day International captain, leading them to their famous victory at the 1983 cricket World Cup over Australia, winning the Man of the Match award for his individual performance. Fletcher also took Zimbabwe to victory in the 1982 ICC Trophy.
He has made his mark as coach. On 13 September 2005 Fletcher was awarded British citizenship after a five year wait. Although both his parents and all his grandparents were ethnically English, i.e., of English/British descent, Fletcher had been denied citizenship by virtue of the fact he spent most of his time abroad - touring with the England team.
Fletcher received heavy criticism from all quarters after preferring Ashley Giles to Monty Panesar as England`s main spinner in the first two Tests of the 2006-07 Ashes series ; Giles took three wickets in two Tests, while Panesar, when given the chance in the third Test, took five wickets in the first innings and three wickets in the second innings.
Following defeat to Australia by 206 runs in the third test on 18 December 2006 which saw England relinquish the Ashes 15 months after gaining them, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed that Fletcher`s position as head coach was under review.
Despite a brief reprieve in early 2007 when England won the Commonwealth Bank Series , Fletcher came under increased criticism as England performed poorly in the World Cup , which culminated in a nine wicket loss to South Africa in which the team were booed off the field by England`s Barmy Army.
It was later announced, on 19 April 2007, that his 8 year tenure as coach was to end following England`s final Super 8 match against the West Indies on Saturday 21 April 2007.
England`s test record improved almost as soon as Fletcher took over in 1999, however the fortunes of the one-day side plummeted under Fletcher and ironically the only major success in one day cricket under the Fletcher era came a mere three months before his exit, as England won the Commonwealth Bank Series by defeating Australia early in 2007.
In November 2007 Fletcher confirmed that he was considering a switch to rugby, stating "I`d like to be a rugby consultant. I have some ideas...I love my rugby, I would rather watch rugby than cricket. I`m passionate about it, it`s the game I`d like to have been involved in."
On 5 November 2007 Fletcher`s autobiography `Behind The Shades` was published. In November 2008 it was announced that Fletcher would take on a consultancy role with Hampshire for the 2009 season, [ 3 ] days later he took a similar role with the South Africa team ahead of their Test series with Bangladesh and Australia.