Duncan Fletcher is considering his position as England coach, and may return to South Africa after this summer's Ashes series, according to newspaper reports.

Fletcher, who's been in charge of the England coaching staff since 1999 has, with others, taken England from the bottom of the pile to second in the ICC's world Test rankings.

He also recently reiterated his desire to stay in his current position until after the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

But the reports claim that while Test results, especially in 2004, were second to none, some players and officials are unhappy with the performances of the one-day side. In 112 games since Fletcher took charge England have won only 53.

Mike Selvey wrote in The Guardian that "among the areas of concern are the continued use of Geraint Jones as an opener despite his consistent failure, the relegation of the promising Ian Bell to a lower-order "finisher" and an unwillingness to experiment even when the series [in South Africa] had gone and some players were patently exhausted."

18 Mar, 2005