England’s premier spin bowler, Graeme Swann believes the new coach of World Champions India,
Duncan Fletcher would have a real tough job on his hands when he brings
the Indians to England for a test match and One Day International
(ODI) series.
Fletcher, the former England coach was named
India’s head coach last week and one of his former pupils, Swann thinks
that despite knowing an awful lot about the English game, Fletcher still
knows a lot less about the new English work
ethic than he might like to believe.
The former Zimbabwe
batsman took over the reins of the English team after the 1999 World
Cup, he gradually built them into a world class team that won two
extremely tough series in Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the turn of the century,
his watershed moment was the triumph at home in the 2005 Ashes series.
The win was England’s first in the premier test match contest against their old rivals Australia
in 17 years; however a string of poor results including a 5-0 whitewash
against Australia in the 2006-2007 Ashes meant that the veteran
had to give up the job.
On the other hand, the present English team
has been on a roll in test match format. They were arguably at their
best ever in the last Ashes series that finished at the start of the
year in Australia, with the English scoring three
resounding innings wins to wrap up a 3-1 series win.
Swann thinks that Fletcher would have to be on guard against the English team in the summer.
Swann told the Daily Telegraph, "Fletcher
knows a few of our players better than some other coaches would. But
there's a hell of a lot of our team he doesn't know at all. I think that
will work to our advantage, because he might be
trying to double guess us a little bit and come a cropper."
"It's nice for him to come back to England,
because he's got a fine record with the England team. Now he will get a
chance to pit his wits against this New England side during the summer,"
added the off-spinner.
Swann was introduced to the English team under the coaching of Fletcher; he made his ODI debut on the tour of South Africa in 2000.
However, Fletcher soon lost faith in the
off-spinner, due to his poor disciplinary record. After being banished
from the team, Swann had to wait as many as eight years for his test
debut. However, the Englishman sympathized with Fletcher
saying that he would have done the same if he was the coach then.
"If I was a coach 10 years ago, I don't think
I would have picked me, and I wouldn't have particularly liked me being
on that tour," Swann said. "I was just a young upstart tourist, and it
was a good job I didn't play because I wasn't
good enough."
Swann added that many English players have
not been exposed to the Zimbabwean, especially the likes of batting
mainstay Jonathan Trott and fast bowler Steven Finn; both made their
debuts after Fletcher left.
All-rounder Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and
even Swann enhanced their reputation after his stint had ended, he
though did concede that the Zimbabwean would have a handle on a few of
the English players part of the present squad, yet
he thinks that the hosts would have their bases covered when the tour
begins.
