CRICKET/Ashes Test Series:The England coach, Duncan Fletcher, yesterday hit out at critics of the tourists'selection policy and said he had no intention of leaving his job despite Australia's humiliating, double-quick Ashes win. He also claimed he retained the respect and support of the players and the backroom staff after the most traumatic few weeks for English cricket since their previous tour here four years ago.
Fletcher will conduct a post-mortem this week in Melbourne, the venue of the fourth Test starting next Tuesday, with David Collier, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board.
One of the main issues on the agenda will be a selection process that led to the dropping of Monty Panesar, Chris Read and Sajid Mahmood for the start of the series after all three had performed well against Pakistan in the summer.
Panesar and Mahmood returned for the defeat in Perth and the calls for Read to replace Geraint Jones at the MCG have intensified after Jones completed a hapless pair on Monday.
But Fletcher defended a selection process which hands complete control on tour to the coach and the captain, and lashed out at those who he feels take gratuitous potshots when it suits them.
"At the end of the day the decisions are difficult," he said. "From our point of view the people who are criticising now are the ones who run with the fox and hunt with the hounds.
"All we can do is run with the fox. We are the ones who make these very difficult decisions.
"I wish cricket was so simple. You pick someone and they score hundreds. What a great game it would be if everyone gets five wickets. But the fact is some people have some problem areas. You look at Jones, who hasn't got the runs we would like."
Fletcher denied the bowling attack that started the series was undercooked, despite the fact that Ashley Giles had not bowled in Test cricket for a year and Jimmy Anderson, Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff had only recently returned to top-class action from injury. Only Matthew Hoggard had been a regular.
However, when asked whether he accepted any blame for the decisions made, Fletcher replied: "We are part of a selection process. There's blame on all of us. Everyone's got to be blamed, on how we performed and how we selected. If people feel they want to blame us in those areas we've got to take responsibility."
He stood up for the captaincy of Flintoff, who has looked increasingly washed up in a series where the triple burden of batting in the top six, taking the new ball and leading a team of outclassed cricketers has proved too much, even for his Atlas-like shoulders. But the defence was not unequivocal.
When asked whether, knowing what he knows now, he would have chosen Andrew Strauss as captain, Fletcher said: "I'll tell you in about three or four years' time." In a sometimes heated press conference, he insisted he was still up to the job after more than seven years in charge.
"No doubt about it. I speak to the players. I still have their confidence. They still come to me on numerous occasions about tactics. Even assistant coaches come to me and ask things."
He also said that the policy of reviewing his position every six months would continue. He was vague about the dates of the next six-month period, but his position will be reviewed at the end of the World Cup in April.
"I'll look at it to see if I'm enjoying the job or not enjoying the job. At the moment I am enjoying the job. You have your ups and your downs, but as long as you have more ups than downs then personally you enjoy the job."
He added that Michael Vaughan, who was due to play today for the ECB Academy against Western Australia second XI, was "moving around very freely" and was on course to make his comeback in the one-day series, which starts on January 12th.
But he would not say whether England would be led by Flintoff or Vaughan.
In a comment that will do nothing to silence accusations that England have been bedevilled by uncertainty, Fletcher said: "We'll have to make our decision when we talk with the other selectors."
