Fletcher agrees new deal

Duncan Fletcher has agreed a new contract that will make him England's longest-serving coach, and will formally put pen to paper in the next few days.

Fletcher's current deal runs out at the end of the 2004 English season, and there has been considerable media speculation over his future, with suggestions that he was considering a return to county cricket. But after a few weeks relaxing in Cape Town, Fletcher has decided to commit himself further to the England cause.

The England & Wales Cricket Board had been pushing for him to sign a deal which would have kept him in the job until the end of the 2007 World Cup, but Fletcher, who is 55, was reluctant to commit that far ahead. Instead the compromise of an open-ended arrangement was agreed.

"We believe that the new arrangement removes the scope for distracting annual speculation," said John Carr, the ECB's director of cricket. "The decision to move Duncan from a fixed-term contract to a staff contract demonstrates the board's own commitment to him and his own commitment to the England cause."

Fletcher replaced David Lloyd as England coach in 1999, after successful spells with Western Province and Glamorgan. Apart from two series defeats against Australia, he is widely considered to have done a good job and the news of the new contract will be a boost to England at the start of a hectic year of international cricket.