Ian Botham has backed Australian Tom Moody to take over as England coach after this year's ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. Former England all rounder Botham said Duncan Fletcher should step down as the country's coach after the limited-overs showpiece in the Caribbean, which starts next month.
"Next month's ICC World Cup in the Caribbean marks the end of a natural four-year cycle, and I expect England to start next summer against West Indies under new management, preferably with Tom Moody running the show," Botham wrote in his column in Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper on Thursday. "Moody may be an Aussie, but he is innovative, dynamic and he's done an excellent job in charge of Sri Lanka. I only hope Lord's have the guts to employ him." England's woeful performance in Australia -

it lost the Ashes series 5-0 and has won just one limited-overs match - has led to repeated calls for Fletcher to resign.

Sri Lanka coach Moody emerged as a frontrunner for the post when he withdrew from the race to succeed Australian coach John Buchanan, who is stepping down after the World Cup. England's national academy director, Peter Moores, is also regarded as a worthy Fletcher replacement.

Botham said England owed Fletcher a huge debt after he transformed the side from being the worst Test team in the world in 1999 to Ashes victor in 2005. But after the pummeling England have received at the hands of Australia this season, Botham questioned how much energy Fletcher had left.

"I suspect we are nearing the end of an era - and that he has probably decided by now what he intends to do with the rest of his life beyond the ICC World Cup," Botham said of Fletcher. "He is a decent man, and his attention to detail is the stuff of legend. But it's time to move on. After the ICC Cricket World Cup, it's time to usher in a new regime and a new era."

Courtesy www.foxsports.com.au