Fletcher happy with WAGs presence

Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, believes that the recent arrival of the team's wives and girlfriends can play a key role in raising England’s game during what will be a vital week for them in the World Cup.

Many former England players criticised the presence of the WAGs during England's 5-0 Ashes whitewash in Australia, and said their presence was a distraction. Fletcher, however, was gratified by their arrival in Antigua on Sunday.

"We've done it on previous tours and on some of the tours when they've [WAGs] arrived we've put in some very solid performances," Fletcher told AFP. "India was a good example a few years ago when we were losing 1-0 in the Test series and the wives arrived and we ended up drawing the series - they do help when they arrive."

England lost the two points that were carried over from the group stage to New Zealand and beat Ireland in their first Super Eights match. Their next matches are against Sri Lanka and Australia on Wednesday and Friday.

"We've got to the stage now where we've got some big matches to play," said Fletcher. "Sri Lanka is going to be a huge game for us on Wednesday. Having lost to New Zealand we have to make sure we win every game from here on in. This is the biggest week of our World Cup so far because we're up against the big countries now.”