Fletcher admits to Ashes mistakes

Coach Duncan Fletcher has admitted England have "made mistakes" during their disastrous tour of Australia.

The tourists are 4-0 down going into the last Test in Sydney on Tuesday, where they must try to avoid the first Ashes whitewash since 1920/21.

The team's preparation and selections - made by Fletcher and captain Andrew Flintoff - have come under fire.

"We've made some mistakes and we will reflect on it when we get back, like we do any other series," Fletcher said.
"We will reflect on it and make sure we try not to make those mistakes again."

England have yet to win a game on tour, a year after beating the Aussies 2-1.

Fletcher has not admitted to any specific mistakes but the decisions to choose Ashley Giles over fellow left-arm spinner Monty Panesar until the third Test, and pick Geraint Jones as wicket-keeper over Chris Read until Melbourne, have come in for strong criticism from supporters and the media.
Panesar took eight wickets in Perth, while Read claimed six catches in Australia's innings at the MCG, while also contributing an unbeaten 26 in the second innings.

The ploy of promoting Kevin Pietersen up the batting order midway through the fourth Test has also been queried.

Pietersen had batted at five in Australia at his own request until then but was moved ahead of Paul Collingwood.

The experiment failed, with Pietersen bowled by Stuart Clark for one as England folded for 161, having made 159 in the first innings.

"Kevin came to us and said he was batting with the tail a lot so he wanted to bat at number four," explained the coach.

"We had a discussion and he said he'd rather move up than be caught with the tail that we've got at the moment so we've decided Kevin will bat at number four through to the end of the Sydney Test.

"We've always wanted him to bat at number four where the top batter should bat. He didn't want to be batting with the tail all the time so he thought if he went to four he would have better batters batting behind him.

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"He was a little bit reluctant initially to bat there and in any team anywhere in the world, if you man-manage people it's wrong to make people play or do things they don't want to do in tight situations," explained Fletcher.

"You make these decisions before the tour but during the tour you have to change them. I don't believe you can stick to plans and just stick with them all the time, you're changing all the time."