Fletcher looks to future for England

13 April 2012

Coach Duncan Fletcher has already begun planning for England's future before the dust has settled on the celebrations for the victory over Sri Lanka.  

While the majority of the team toasted their achievement, Fletcher had an early night and began pondering the problem of how to sustain their success.

One of his problems is how to plug the gaps that will appear in the side in the next few years.

Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart have already hinted they may consider their futures after this summer's Ashes series, while Darren Gough and Graham Thorpe may follow suit in the next couple of years as the demands of international cricket take their toll.

It is that problem which Fletcher plans to address sooner rather than later to ensure the last year's revival does not become the highlight of his tenure as coach and can become the start of a consistent period of success.

"We've got to move on," stressed Fletcher. "We've got to go and find some younger guys and they have to be identified quite quickly, especially on the batting side.

"There are no gaps at the moment but we don't know how long people like Atherton and Stewart are going to go on playing for.

"I hear they've talked about packing up after the Ashes although I have a feeling they are enjoying themselves, enjoying the camaraderie of the team and they might go on.

"We have to find some players who can fill those gaps if they do go and how we do that I don't know, but I'm going to have to talk to people and go and watch a few players."

Fletcher already has a good track record in discovering new talent for England, having spotted Marcus Trescothick playing for Somerset when he was coach of Glamorgan and after blooding him in last summer's one-day international tournament, he has now been selected for the last nine successive Tests.

Matthew Hoggard is another player who has been gradually brought into the England set-up under Fletcher, given his Test debut against the West Indies at Lord's last summer before gaining crucial experience on this winter's tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

He already admits to having "one or two players in mind," but has only revealed their identities to captain Nasser Hussain and they will remain secret to prevent speculation if either he or any of the other selectors turns up at a county match in which they are playing.

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