India appoint Duncan Fletcher as national cricket coach

World Cup winners India have appointed former England boss Duncan Fletcher as coach on a two-year contract.

The 62-year-old succeeds South African Gary Kirsten and becomes their fourth successive foreign coach.

Fletcher won a record eight consecutive Tests for England in 2004 before guiding the team to a long overdue Ashes success in 2005.

England coach Andy Flower was the Indian board's first choice but he was unwilling to uproot his family.

Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, now coaching Indian Premier League side Chennai Super Kings, was another possible.

But it is thought Flower, also from Zimbabwe, was always reluctant having settled in England. Fleming was viewed as a long shot, and had publicly distanced himself from the role.
Michael Vaughan, the former England captain who formed a close bond with Fletcher during their most successful period, tweeted: "Great coach who will work well with [India captain Mahendra] Dhoni.
"Duncan will work well with all the talent. His biggest challenge will come from the media. He has never really understood how it works."
 Fletcher has recently acted as a batting consultant for South Africa Fletcher's first major assignment with India, the number one Test side, will come when they tour England from mid-July for the summer's eagerly-awaited tour. It features Tests at Lord's, Trent Bridge, Edgbaston and The Oval, plus one Twenty20 international and five one-day internationals.
Leading up to that is an Indian tour of West Indies in June, featuring one Twenty20 international, five one-day internationals and three Tests. Fletcher may not be involved in that.

"He may not join the team in the West Indies as he has some prior commitments," Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary N Srinivasan said.

New Zealander's former Test captain John Wright was the first man from overseas to take the job regarded as the most heavily scrutinised in cricket.
Wright was in the post between 2000 and 2005 before ex-Australia skipper Greg Chappell took over for two years.
After the 2007 World Cup, India had no full-time coach, relying on specialist bowling and fielding coaches instead. That ended when Kirsten, a former South African batsman closely mentored by Fletcher at Western Province, took over in March 2008.
Fletcher is known for picking players on hunches rather than on statistical achievements - a notable example being the highly successful Somerset opener Marcus Trescothick.
But he is also someone known not to suffer fools gladly and Graeme Swann famously made only one appearance under his regime, Fletcher feeling the off-spinner was a loose cannon.
Eric Simons, who was India's bowling coach during Kirsten's tenure, will continue in his role and is likely to enjoy a good relationship with Fletcher through their Western Province links.

Source link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/13205909.stm

Mark Selby breaks Crucible century record and Stephen Hendry

• Selby leads Hendry 12-4 after six century breaks
• Shaun Murphy cuts Ronnie O'Sullivan's lead to 9-7
Mark Selby, right, has Stephen Hendry reeling at 12-4 and needs only one frame to wrap up a win today. Photograph: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
Mark Selby set a Crucible record of six centuries in a match as he established a 12-4 lead over Stephen Hendry, which leaves him needing one of the afternoon's nine frames on Monday to take a place in the quarter-finals of the world championship.
The twice Masters champion made breaks of 125, 108, 98 and 129 to take a 7-1 lead after one session and 100, 127, 87 and 117 in the second. Hendry's 114 gave him his only success of the opening session and consecutive frame winners in the second at least helped him to avoid the indignity of defeat with a session to spare. The loss of the last frame of the day after Selby needed four snookers completed a dreadful weekend for the Scot.
Selby, now the 7-2 favourite for the title, has equalled Hendry's 1994-95 record of 53 centuries in a season although there were never sufficient tournaments in the 42-year-old Scot's prime to play more than 100 matches, as Selby has in this campaign.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, far from his best but displaying patience, a renewed appetite for competition and more readiness than usual to accept his shortcomings, had his first-session 6-2 lead over Shaun Murphy cut to 9-7 at the close.
Murphy had injected some pre-match needle into the game by describing as "pathetic" O'Sullivan's initial reluctance to pot the final black for a maximum at September's World Open on the grounds a 147 did not carry a bonus. He also criticised him for not sharing the load of promoting the game through minor events. O'Sullivan declined to respond other than to say: "Shaun wants to play the ambassador role and that's great but I've never wanted to do that." The three-time world champion said he had "done more for snooker than any other player in the last 10 years in terms of putting bums on seats".
Murphy's failing was missing crucial pots. Set to reduce his arrears to 6-5, he erred unexpectedly on 44 to let O'Sullivan in for 76 and 7-4. Trailing 8-5, he missed an easy red with the balls wide open to allow O'Sullivan in for 95 and 9-5. Even so, by taking the last two frames of the day without O'Sullivan scoring Murphy can still hope to prevail on Monday.
The quarter-finals start on Tuesday with Mark Williams taking on Mark Allen, who was so clinically depressed in the weeks before the championship that he scarcely picked up his cue. Two 13-12 wins over Matthew Stevens and Barry Hawkins have raised the 25‑year-old Northern Ireland No1's spirits although, when he broke off against Stevens at three down with four to play, he changed his intention to scatter the reds at random only on his last backswing. He fell 7-3 adrift of Hawkins although he got into a seven‑frame winning steak to lead 10-7.
"I felt I needed to quicken up Barry's not negative but he's steady. He can keep you in your chair for a long time," said Allen. "I needed to play at my own rhythm. I hit the ball much better then."
A 12-9 win for Allen looked imminent but metronomically efficient breaks of 80, 117 and 92 brought Hawkins level before he bungled his break-off in the decider. "I seem to be able to find something when the pressure's on," said Allen. In this case, Allen not only made a match‑winning 96 but was on course for a 147 maximum until a "kick" on his thirteenth black left him out of position. "When I was coming back against Matthew, he gave me a lot of chances. Against Barry I hadn't had a chance for three frames."
Graeme Dott showed his will to win in beating Ali Carter 13-11 and will provide a stern quarter-final test for the 21‑year-old Judd Trump, already a Crucible crowd favourite judging by the receptions his entrances are receiving.
Source link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/24/mark-selby-stephen-hendry-world-championship