England's defeat may be down to tiredness

Tiredness may have been to blame for England's embarrassing 155-run defeat by New Zealand in the second one-day international on Saturday, according to coach Duncan Fletcher.

"We have got to look at them and ask ourselves if we have overcooked them," said Fletcher at a news conference on Sunday.

"We have a lot of young guys who have never played this much cricket and they may be tired."

England went 2-0 down in the five-match series when they were skittled for 89 chasing a target of 245 to beat the Kiwis in Wellington.

Zimbabwean Fletcher warned that judgements on certain players would be passed at the end of the series.

By then, England will have played 16 one-day internationals since the end of September in a hectic period designed to refine policy and selection ahead of next year's World Cup in South Africa.

Fletcher ruled out making drastic changes to the side when the series with New Zealand resumes in Napier on Wednesday, saying his team's problems were mental rather than technical.

"It has been disappointing because we played some good cricket in India (at the end of 2001) but suddenly things have stopped working out," he said.

WORLD CUP

"We want to have had a good look at everyone, which we have done. Players will get a run in the side and the decision will be made after this tour as to what the World Cup squad is going to be.

"When you look at the mental aspect it is very difficult to get inside these guys' brains. Technically you can see what's going wrong but when it's mental it's harder," said Fletcher.

"If I could get inside their brains this job would be very easy. The guys were up for it the other night but it just didn't go right.

"We thought on Saturday we had the best 11 and you can't judge them on one performance. It was not a true assessment of their ability."

Fletcher believes his side can repeat their achievement in India, where they came back from 3-1 down to tie the six-match series.

He will also tell his players to take heart from the revitalisation of New Zealand, who recently got the better of Australia in the triangular limited overs series.

"It wasn't that long ago that this New Zealand team were in South Africa having a shocker," the England coach said.

"Here they are now having turned it around. We have come back in India, where it is very difficult to play, and we are only 2-0 down here."

All-rounder Ben Hollioake has recovered from a knee injury and will be in contention for a place on Wednesday evening, with batsman Michael Vaughan and off-spinner Jeremy Snape also pushing for their first appearances on the tour.

Mail Cricket Editor