From: 9063iyerm@vms.csd.mu.edu (Murali Iyer)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: Fletcher - Boycott - Subba Row
Date: 6 Jan 1993 17:50:46 GMT
Organization: Marquette University - Computer Services
Reply-To: 9063iyerm@vms.csd.mu.edu
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Vicky has inundated the net with enjoyable excerpts on England's tour of India
from various publications. I thought this would be the appropriate time to come
out with a telling excerpt from Boycott autobiography, which might throw some
light on why Boycott was not retained as the batting coach for England. 

Boycott writes about the 1981 tour of India with the MCC team, led by
Fletcher and managed by Raman Subba Row.

So, here goes:

"Just when I was at a low ebb, an incident occurred that was to have the
greatest possible bearing on my relations with Fletcher and Subba Row. And,
again, it was totally unnecessary. I received copies of the English newspaper
in which Fletcher was reported as saying that he has told Chris Tavare and
myself to get a move on during the Test match in Delhi. It was plastered over
the back pages - another Boycott row - and I certainly could do without that at
a time when my critics in Yorkshire were looking for ammunition against me.
Worse still, it was untrue. Fletcher had never spoken to me about scoring rates
or anything vaguely similar. Obviously, I wanted to get to the bottom of it,
and just as predictably, Fletcher insisted to my face that he had been
misquoted. Trouble was, I borrowed a tape recording of his interview to the
press and there was absolutely no way he had been misrepresented or
misunderstood. I replayed it to him and Subba Row a dozen times and he still
made foolish denials. It was ludicrous. I wanted the record put straight; Subba
Row seemed to think it was quite out of the question for an England captain to
admit to a mistake, much less a lie. My reputation was to be swilled down the
drain again just to protect a captain who had sounded off for God only knows
what reason, and I was not having that. I stood my ground and insisted on an
apology.......

".... Keith Fletcher had been out of Test cricket for almost five years and had
lost touch with changing realities - the tour had a tendency to run him rather
than the other way round. Between them they spent an awful lot of time
tinkering with all the trappings and the incidentals of touring rather than
getting down to the business of playing good cricket and winning matches. It
was obvious after we had lost the first Test in Bombay that it was going to be
an uphill struggle: the pitches were bland and it would be the devil's own job
to pull a Test back. Yet team selection was awry and too much official time was
spent genuflecting in front of local officials instead of tackling problems
head-on. I don't know if it impressed the locals but it offended me - there has
to be apoint at which good manners ends and fawning begins. As a professional
trying to win a Test series I expected nothing more from the Indian officials
than efficiency and straight dealing. I have no reason to think they expected
anything more from us, but I rather fancy they got it. I obtained my apology
from Fletcher, too, and it was plastered all over the sports pages back in
ENgland, which would not suit him or the establishment. It came at a high price
- my relationship with the captain and the manager became distinctly distant,
not to say icy, after that".

In the light of the above, one should not be too surprised that Boycott and
Fletcher have not been paired up for this tour. Also marring that tour were the
controversies around Boycott's and a couple other players' South African links,
Boycott going off to play golf after pulling out of the Calcutta test due to
illness, the plan to tour South Africa soon after the India tour being
"hatched" while still in India, etc. On the whole, a very loaded tour. Fletcher
did not seem to be in the good books of the authorities after that tour, losing
his place and captaincy soon after. 

Now, as I had written a while ago, the tour is in the hands of two people who
have not exactly been shining beacons as far as the Board in India is
concerned. Gooch was also in the eye of a storm before the 1987 WC, the Indian
government almost deciding not to allow him to play in India. Fletcher had
swung his bat at the wickets after being given out in Bangalore, which created
another furore. This was one of the earlier exhibitions of dissent and was
quite rare and new at that time. Let us see how this series goes. Somehow,
England's tours of India have been filled with happenings of a controversial
kind every now and then(Lever and Vaseline is another incident which comes to
mind). However, they have also shown us some highly entertaining/talented
players, like Randall, Greig, Knott and Barry Wood(his fielding was fantastic,
especially the sliding stops), to name a few. 

People in India may be looking forward to seeing Chris Lewis, Tufnell and Hick
for different reasons. Lewis' reputation as a highly talented allrounder
precedes him. Tufnell because he has chosen the art of bowling spin, which was
one area where India had a world-class combination. About Hick, I guess I need
say nothing. 

-Murali

Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket