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England coach Fletcher stands down

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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados -- Duncan Fletcher will step down as England coach after Saturday's final World Cup Super Eights game with West Indies in Barbados.

He will be replaced on a temporary basis by England academy director Peter Moores, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement on Thursday.

Fletcher, who has held the post since 1999, had come under pressure after England were knocked out of the World Cup in the second round following another poor display in the nine-wicket defeat by South Africa on Tuesday.

England's disappointing tournament follows a 5-0 mauling by Australia in the Ashes test series and the 58-year-old Zimbabwean was left with little choice but to resign.

"I feel it is in the team's best interests over the long term that I should move on and seek a new challenge elsewhere," Fletcher said in a statement released Thursday.

"This has been a difficult winter for the team and for me personally, but I believe that my record as coach over the past eight years is one in which I can take great pride."

England's tactics in both forms of the game had been criticized as overcautious and unambitious, with Fletcher favoring the team that won the Ashes in 2005 over players in better recent form.

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive David Collier paid tribute to Fletcher's service.

"He can be justifiably proud of a record which includes an Ashes series victory over Australia, a record eight successive test wins and test series wins abroad in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and South Africa," Collier said.

It is "is in no small measure due to his rigorous planning and excellent coaching skills."

England plays a four-test series against the West Indies starting May 17.

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