Famous Cricketers No 93 - Keith Fletcher O.B.E.

the might of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in the 1974–1975 series. Mentally bruised, but true to his fighting spirit, he finished the series with a stand of 192 with his captain Mike Denness in the fourth Test, with both Lillee and Thompson injured. He then went on to New Zealand to score his highest Test innings of 216 in the first Test. The battering he and others received on that tour took its toll. Fletcher was not excluded from the difficult times there were to follow upon their return to England. He failed to score a 1000 runs in 1975, this was for the second season running. He had scored the slowest century in a Test match in England when he took 458 minutes (329 balls ) versus Pakistan at The Oval in 1974, which was one of three centuries, but he had not achieved his customary success at county level. His appointment as county captain in 1974 had, it seemed, effected his own game but thankfully for Essex it was short lived. It was just five seasons later, in 1979, that the county won the first trophies in the 103 years of its history. The Benson and Hedges Cup, won in July 1979 was followed by the major prize, the Schweppes County Championship. Under Fletcher’s leadership these trophies were followed in the next six seasons by two further County Championships, three John Player League titles and one National Westminster Trophy. They were also runners-up in the John Player League three times and were the losing finalists in three Benson and Hedges Cup finals. By the time he relinquished the captaincy of Essex, Fletcher was the longest serving captain on the county circuit, and was widely acclaimed the best of the captains of his time, alongside Mike Brearley. As just reward for his services Essex awarded Fletcher a benefit in 1973 and a testimonial in 1982. He acknowledged both with his customary professionalism and scored over 1200 runs in both of these seasons. His astute leadership culminated in his appointment as captain of England on the tour to India and Sri Lanka in 1981-1982. It was to be a troubled tour. Fletcher attracted the wrath of the game’s administrators, when in the second Test, he broke his wicket after being given out, caught. He felt clearly, that he had not connected with the ball, subsequently to be confirmed by the television replay. However, having laid down clearly to his team that umpiring decisions might not be all one could hope for, he let himself and his side down. He wrote a letter of apology to the Indian authorities, but the damage had been done. Also during the tour, behind the scene negotiations were taking place to set up the World Series tournament under Kerry Packer. Fletcher stayed loyal to England and turned down a substantial offer to captain the England World Series XI. His reward for that loyalty was a telephone call from Peter May, the Chairman of the selectors, at the beginning of the 1982 season, to be told his services were no longer required as captain of England. That clearly hurt him deeply, but yet again his fighting spirit drove him forward when many would have given up. In the next three seasons he scored 1000 runs and continued to lead Essex to the new found success for which they had waited so long. He relinquished the captaincy of Essex in 1986 handing over to Graham Gooch. Gooch found it difficult to handle the captaincy and his own game, and returned the captaincy to Fletcher in 1988. Fletcher finally brought his career to an end leaving himself out of the side from mid-summer and announcing his retirement in the November of that year. In at the birth of limited overs cricket Fletcher averaged 39.84 in the twenty-four limited overs Internationals in which he played. He scored 9214 runs in other ListA limited overs competitions, at an average of 29.34. Following his retirement from first-class cricket Keith Fletcher coached at Essex until 2000. During that period he was appointed Coach to the England cricket team from October 1992 to February 1995. 4