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Fletcher Criticises Pietersen Appointment
Fletcher - KP's Batting Will Suffer.
Duncan Fletcher is surprised and concerned about England's decision to name Kevin Pietersen as their new Test and one-day international captain.
The ex-England coach fears for his former charges, should the pressures of captaincy adversely affect the batting form of a player who averages more than 50 in both forms of the game.
That, he warns, is a scenario Peter Moores' England simply cannot afford.
"I was a little bit surprised when the name of Kevin Pietersen came up to captain England," said the Zimbabwean, who lost his job after England's dismal World Cup campaign in the Caribbean last year.
Fletcher instead advocates Andrew Strauss as the best choice England could have made as captain, following the resignations of both their Test and limited-overs leaders last weekend.
He believes Pietersen's lack of significant experience of captaincy at any level is a particular worry.
"It is from the point of view that he has not really been playing for England for long, and secondly he has no experience - which is crucial," said Fletcher, who helped Pietersen's predecessor Michael Vaughan lead England to their shock Ashes victory over Australia in 2005 - only to lose the urn via a whitewash Down Under two years later.
"You have to have some experience of captaincy," he told Sky Sports News.
"But the most important reason which really concerns me is what effect the captaincy will have on his batting - because they definitely need him very badly to perform as a batter.
"It could be very difficult if he is affected by the captaincy in a very big way."
Strauss captained England during the Fletcher era when Vaughan was injured - and he would have chosen him again.
"I would have put Andrew Strauss in as captain," he said, adding qualms about the Middlesex batsman's current omission from the limited-overs team would not deter him.
"I would have said for the moment 'put him in the one-day game'.
"It would be important then that they batted him down the order - as we did when he batted very well as a 'floating' batsman. We used him for a year like that, very successfully."
