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Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott has called for Duncan Fletcher to be axed as coach following the side’s comprehensive defeat to Australia in a Champions Trophy group match on Saturday.

“If you talk to people like John Wright and Bob Woolmer, successful coaches with a lot of experience, they will tell you that the job comes with a shelf-life. And Fletcher just reached the end of his,” Boycott wrote in Monday’s Daily Telegraph.

England lost to India by four wickets in their opening match and were dismissed for 169 by Australia before losing by six wickets.

Zimbabwean Fletcher took over as coach seven years ago and the highlight of his career was guiding England to Ashes success last year after 18 years of Australian domination.

He is currently on a rolling one-year contract with the England board.

“I’m not saying he is a terrible coach. In fact, I think he has done a good job — full marks to him for the way he made England’s test team competitive after the dark days of the 1990s.

“But, after a while, I believe a coach runs out of new ideas and the players get comfortable and complacent with him. He almost becomes too familiar and the players stop listening.”

England’s one-day form has been poor for a while, particularly after injuries to a number of premier players.

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Former Australian captain Steve Waugh has said the International Cricket Council should make Pakistan’s dope-tainted pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif “pay heavily” if they were proven guilty of using banned drugs.

The pace duo were pulled out of the Champions Trophy in India after they tested positive for banned steroid nandrolone.

“It’s not really associated with cricket but you can’t be too naive to suggest that it wouldn’t happen. Obviously it’s here. Players know the rules and its very strict guidelines and you’ve got to work within those,” Waugh said.

“If you step outside of it then you’ve got to pay the consequences. So I think if they’ve done the wrong thing, they’ll certainly pay pretty heavily for it,” he was quoted as saying by an Australian portal ABC.

Matthew Hayden, Australian Test opener, echoed Waugh’s views. He said the ICC should get tough and send a clear message that drugs were not acceptable in cricket.

“We are very proud of having a clean sport that does its best to maintain the standards so that we pass onto the youngsters a clear message that drugs in our game aren’t acceptable,” he said.

Mark Taylor, another former Australian captain, said Akhtar and Asif had to be dealt with appropriately.

“It’s certainly disappointing for cricket and obviously disappointing for the two gentlemen involved,” he said.

“People like Shoaib Akhtar bring a lot of people to the game but they do have a role to play in the game with what we’re trying to teach our youngsters with what they should and shouldn’t do in sport.

“Obviously (drugs) aren’t a part of sport so they have to be dealt with appropriately.”

Allan Donald has withdrawn his application for the vacant England bowling coach position after meeting with South African board officials.

Donald’s announcement came after he held talks with Gerald Majola, the board’s CEO, and Vince van der Bijl, its general manager of professional cricket.

The meeting was called by Majola to discuss comments in the media last weekend that Donald, who is employed in CSA’s high performance programme as a specialist bowling coach, that he had applied for the English post. (more…)

Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis believes the Indian selectors have taken a step back by selecting Sourav Ganguly for next month’s gruelling cricket tour of Pakistan.

“I think the Indian selectors have taken a step back by picking Sourav because he is certainly not a player in form. I saw him batting in the New Delhi Test (against Sri Lanka) and he was clearly struggling to put bat to the ball”, Younis said.

“I don’t think you can select any player who is in such a bad form in his career. Somehow, he does not look like capable of scoring runs,” Younis, who played 87 Tests and 262 one-dayers for Pakistan, said in an interview.

Ganguly was picked in the 16-man squad amidst drama and suspense after being left out of the third Test in Ahmedabad despite scoring 39 and 40 in Delhi.

The former India captain did not do any good to his cause when he missed the Ranji Trophy game for Bengal against Gujarat but escaped sanctions after the BCCI accepted his explanation. He, alongwith three others, were allowed to play the next round of Ranji Trophy and were also granted permission to join the team in Lahore two days later. (more…)

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has slammed record-breaking spinner Shane Warne for suggesting that rivals like Muttiah Muralitharan benefited by taking “cheap” wickets.

In a massive spray at Test cricket’s greatest wicket taker Ranatunga labelled Warne “overrated” and believes his record will forever be questioned due to his drug suspension in 2003.

He also doesn’t want any Sri Lankan juniors to idolise the Australian because of his controversies.

“Shane tries to be larger than the game and life and expects a lot of credit for his performances. He thinks there’s no better bowler than him,” Ranatunga said.

The Australia leg-spinner said earlier this week that his world record tallies of 651 career wickets and 90 in a calendar year will not last long because other bowlers get a lot of wickets against weaker opponents. (more…)

Former cricket great Imran Khan said Friday England underestimated Pakistan thereby losing both the Tests and one-day series, while the hosts performed better than expected. “After beating a team like Australia in the Ashes, England underestimated the strength of the Pakistani team,” Imran, a former Pakistan captain, said.

England came to Pakistan on the back of their September’s Ashes win, their first in 18 years, but lost the three-Test series 2-0 and the following one-day series 3-2. Khan said captaincy played a key role in any team’s win. “Captain is the key. Last year when India came to Pakistan they were led by a buoyant Sourav Ganguly who had done well on the previous tour of Australia, while (Pakistan’s) Inzamamul Haq) did not have the confidence of a captain,” said Imran, who played 82 Tests for his country. India beat Pakistan 3-2 in the one-dayers and 2-1 in the Tests last year, their first series win in Pakistan since 1990.

He said Inzamam’s captaincy against England this month was the main difference between the two sides. (more…)