Sack Vaughan, dismiss Fletcher, say former England stars

St George's, Grenada, Apr 19 (UNI) Shocked by England's dismal showing in the World Cup, former players have called for total overhauling of the team and demanded sacking of captain Michael Vaughan and coach Duncan Fletcher.

Several former captains and players have called for heads to roll. Leading the charge were Ian Botham and Bob Willis, who said Vaughan should go as skipper and that coach Duncan Fletcher had long outlived his utility.

''We have to start planning now for the next World Cup, which is in the Sub-continent. They should get out the birth certificates and anyone who is 32 or over now should be out of it,'' Willis said on television ''We have got to go back to preparing a side specifically for that tournament in four years time and get young players into the side. That preparation should start with the one-day internationals against the West Indies this summer,'' he added Another former skipper Ian Botham was of the view that he was not surprised at the humiliation England had faced in the World Cup.

''The World Cup is over and England have been humiliated and it is just not good enough. We have to change things and move on. We are disappointed but not surprised at how easy it was. I thought we would always battle and that we would have to play extremely well but to be quite frank we have watched this over the last couple of years in one-day cricket and it is not getting any better, it is getting worse.

''We need to stop right now, change our whole attitude, change our major personnel; everything has got to be changed. You cannot keep going like this. I think Duncan Fletcher has done some great things for England over the years, let's not forget that, but I am sorry, everyone has a shelf life and his has expired,'' he added.

UNI