BARBADOS: CRICKET - England coach Duncan Fletcher discusses how his team can prepare for performance against South Africa

England, whose top order has failed to fire in the tournament so far, must beat the South Africans on Tuesday (April 17) to maintain a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals. Andrew Flintoff has especially struggled with the bat and the idea of him opening the innings has been discussed. Fletcher said there was flexibility in the order if the top three make a platform but that asking Flintoff to bowl 10 overs and then bat was unrealistic. Captain Michael Vaughan has been as out of form as Flintoff but Fletcher is not overly worried. Kevin Pietersen is the only England batsman to score a century in the tournament and Fletcher said the South African-born batsman would be extra motivated to play well against Graeme Smith's side. When Pietersen first toured South Africa with England in 2005 the crowds subjected him to constant abuse but he hit three hundreds to silence them. Fletcher said on Saturday: "It's difficult from our point of view. The wickets -- we're not used to these wickets, to a certain degree. We realise that on some of these slow wickets our bowlers struggle with the experience that they have got. From the batting point of view, we know that if everyone gets the confidence and form that they can find at any stage, it's a good batting line-up." The South Africans are favourites for Tuesday's match in Barbados but also showed their patchy form by losing to outsiders Bangladesh earlier in the tournament.

ITN Source | April 16, 2007

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