London: Retaliating to Duncan Fletcher’s charges of being a ‘pest’, former England Test player Geoffrey Boycott has accused the former coach of abusing big names of English cricket to sell his autobiography.
Describing Fletcher as a “hypocrite” and “a sour man”, Boycott said he was not surprised by the allegations Fletcher levelled at the likes of Andrew Flintoff and Ian Botham which is a marketing ploy to sell “Behind the Shades”, in which Fletcher made these claims.
“I was expecting it. I expected him to name well known people from English cricket so he could sell his book. Who the hell wants to read about what Duncan Fletcher says unless he talks about the likes of Ian Botham, myself and Andrew Flintoff,” he said.
Sour man
“He’s a sour man and from what I’ve read of his book it’s a sour book,” Boycott added.
Fletcher revealed in his book that Flintoff’s drinking binges had let him down but Boycott felt it was the other way round.
“I believe when you are coach and you are captain it is better kept within the team and it would be better if he’d dealt with Andrew Flintoff and whatever problems he had there and then it was his duty; it was his responsibility as coach to deal with the team and he didn’t,” Boycott told The Daily Telegraph.
The former opener maintained that Fletcher should have been sacked long back as he was never the right man to coach the English side as he did not know how to handle it.
“He used to come along with a face like thunder, he gave the impression he was walking around with piles he was terrible,” said Boycott.
Boycott said Fletcher has no right to take a moral high ground as he had let his own players down on several occasions.
“Everybody writes books, me included, I have no problem with people writing books if he tells the truth and makes a few bob; we’ve all done that.
“But he takes the moral high ground during his England coaching period by saying he is loyal to the players; he wants loyalty in return,” Boycott fumed. — PTI
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