Knives sharpen against Fletcher

As Australia move closer to regaining the Ashes the knives are being sharpened against Duncan Fletcher, the man many in the media feel is to blame for England's problems. The earlier omission of Monty Panesar is still fuelling the criticism and James Lawton, in The Independent says Fletcher has out-thought and out-planned.

Panesar didn't only represent the possibility of a striking new weapon in England's attack. He also promised a fresh state of mind, optimistic, attacking, filled with a belief in his own ability to make a difference.

In the Guardian, Richard Williams writes pessimistically about Flintoff's chances of playing the next Ashes. The bowler, Williams feels, has been hurried into service with an ankle yet to heal fully.

For a fast bowler, particularly one of Flintoff's heft, to feel pain in his landing foot is to be condemned to a very distinctive kind of agony. In order to deliver the ball properly, that foot must mash down hard on the compressed earth, acting as the load-bearing pivot for the entire effort. Any mental reservation created by the hurt will tend to remove the desire to add the final ounce of weight that creates the edge of hostility