Fletcher defends fielding tactic

Duncan Fletcher has backed the controversial fielding tactics employed by Michael Vaughan during England's first warm-up match at Rawalpindi, insisting that a fielder is entitled to anticipate where a delivery is likely to go, and act accordingly.

During the closing stages of England's 52-run win over the PCB Patron's XI, Vaughan was seen running from slip to leg-slip while the ball was in mid-flight. His actions contravened Law 41, which states: "Any significant movement by any fielder after the ball comes into play and before the ball reaches the striker is unfair. In the event of such unfair movement, either umpire shall call and signal dead ball."

But Fletcher was adamant that his captain had done nothing untoward, even though a similar situation sparked the infamous Mike Gatting and Shakoor Rana row in 1987 at Faisalabad, when the two became involved in a heated exchange at square-leg. This led to a day's play being abandoned when Gatting, at first, refused to offer an apology.

Fletcher insisted: "If a fielder anticipates a shot that a player is about to play, then that is within the laws of the game. I've heard Jonty Rhodes say it, if you see a batsman getting onto the front foot, you veer off to the right, and if he goes for a cut you veer off to the left."

"It's all about anticipation," he added. "If you see a guy going for the reverse-sweep, you tell your sweeper "run finer" because that's where the ball is going to go. Does a wicketkeeper say: 'I mustn't move to the leg-side until it's gone past the batsman?' As soon as you see it go down leg, you move to stop leg byes or to take a legside catch."

Fletcher conceded that there was a grey area that needed to be watched. "The only problem is, for example, if backward square-leg knows that a guy is going to bowl a bouncer, and goes haring off to deep fine-leg. That is a problem. As long as it's not pre-meditated and a case of moving before a ball is bowled, then it's fine.

"Do you want silly mid-off to stand still until he gets clunked? It's difficult to define, but if you see a batsman getting down to sweep, then you hare off to protect a certain part of the field. Vaughny thought about it while he was out there, but he was just thinking ahead of the game. All sides do it, but you've just got to be careful it's not done as the bowler lets the ball go."

"If the match referee wants to bring it up," Fletcher added, "then we'll discuss it with him."