It all ended in tears, writes former Eng coach

Eng's former coach Fletcher has termed the independent review panel for Ashes defeat as 'the lowest point' of his cricketing career.

Hitting out at the England and Wales Cricket Board, former England coach Duncan Fletcher has termed the formation of an independent review panel to look into reasons behind the humiliating Ashes series in Australia as “the lowest point of my cricketing career”.

“It had hardly been a glorious winter, with the 5-0 Ashes thrashing…But nothing had prepared me for the thunderbolt with which Mike Atherton struck me after we had lost the final Test in Sydney. Doing an interview for Sky Sports he had asked me about an independent review which he had learnt was to be conducted into our defeat.

“I knew nothing about it. This was a terrible way to find out. Nobody had the decency to tell me. I can honestly say that was the lowest point of my cricketing career. I felt completely isolated. Not even my employers were backing me up during such a difficult time,” Fletcher said in his autobiography, serialised in the Daily Mail.

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However, Fletcher who was retained by the ECB till the ODI World Cup in the West Indies said he had earned the respect of players who bid a tearful adieu to him, which was an indication of his, a successful stint as the coach.

“It all ended in tears… Those tears offered me the most humbling of stories. They told me I had been successful in my seven-and-a-half-year reign as England coach, that I had earned the respect of the players.

“Things had gone horribly wrong in that winter of 2006-07 and yet I was afforded such a heart-warming send-off. Anyone who offered the opinion that I had lost the England dressing room at the end of my tenure should have been there. It was truly special.