Fletcher - Behind the shades: the autobiography

• Beat the West Indies in a Test Series (31) for the first time since 1969 in the summer of 2000
• Won a Test series in Pakistan for the first time in thirty-nine years in 2000achieving victory in the final Test in Karachi, a ground where Pakistan had never previously lost in thirty-four matches
• Won a Test series in Sri Lanka in 2001Englands fourth successive Test series win and the first time this had been achieved since Mike Brearleys captaincy in 19789. It was also the first time England had come from behind to win a Test series since the tour of India in 1984/5
• Englands 30 Test series win in the Caribbean in 2004 was their first in the West Indies for thirty-six years
• Eight successive Test wins in 2004 for the first time in Englands history
• Englands 21 victory in the Test series in South Africa in 200405 was their first in South Africa since 1964/5, their first in a five-Test series overseas since 1986/7 and only Australia, twice, had won a Test series in South Africa since the countrys return from sporting isolation in 1991
• Named male Coach of the Year at the Sports UK Coach of the Year awards in 2004
• Led the team to an Ashes Test series win in 2005 for the first time in eighteen yearsand their sixth straight Test series win following previous victories over West Indies, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh
• The teams victory in the Mumbai Test of 2006 which squared the series 11 was their first in a Test match in India since 1985
• The England one-day squads Commonwealth Bank series win in Australia in 2007 was the first time the hosts had lost the triangular one-day series final for fourteen years. It was also Englands first one-day series win overseas since 1997 and their first in Australia since 1986/7

Compiled by Andrew Walpole

You may have noticed that whenever I was interviewed as England coach there were a number of phrases which I used rather frequently. Coming to the party was probably the first one picked up onmy way of describing how a player should contribute sufficiently to the team effortand there were to be many more.

One phrase I use quite frequently is one hell of a. That is generally for more private conversations but if I attach that to a noun, it is my way of saying that it is so special that I struggle to describe it. So if I say that I had one hell of an upbringing, then you might begin to understand what I mean.

I grew up on Carswell Farm, which is near the town of Nyabira, some thirty kilometres north out of Harare on the road to Lake Kariba. So, unsurprisingly, it was a typically African upbringing: outdoors and active, at times toughsometimes even extremely hard workbut certainly not closeted or restricted, and importantly it issued me with responsibility and authority at a young age, as well as immediately settling me into a team environment. That was inevitable because I was one of six children, five boys and a girl; all coincidentally with Christian names ending in nJohn, Colin, Duncan, Gordon, Allan and Ann, born in that orderand all mad keen on sport. Ann had little choice but to be brought up as a tomboy, joining in all the sports we played, even the impromptu rugby matches on the lawn with the African labourers sons, where she would act as scrum half. But, to the great pleasure of the rest of us, she became a brilliant sportswoman in her own right, playing hockey for South Africa and then captaining the Zimbabwe womens team to gold in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

There was little doubt, though, that it was Colin, the second eldest, who possessed the most sporting talent. I genuinely believe that he is one of the most talented sportsmen I have ever known. A big statement when you consider some of the top sportsmen I have had the pleasure to encounter since, but I stand by it. He was almost too talented, the ease with which he performed at every sport meaning that he found it mentally difficult to fulfil his potential in any one of them.

But he is one of only two pupils ever to have achieved full colours in four sports at Prince Edward School, Salisbury (or Harare as it is now), which all the Fletcher brothers attended; Ann going to Prince Edwards sister school, the Girls High School, where our mother, Mary, had once been head girl. Colins colours came in cricket, hockey, rugby and squash, and he played for Rhodesia Schools at cricket and hockey, and later went on to play cricket for Transvaal B, as well as being Rhodesian Schools squash champion and captain of the Knights squash team to tour the UKin essence the South African team, but it could not be termed so because of the political situation at the time. He now lives in Switzerland, whose national team he has represented at squash.