Gooch calls for new selection policy

Graham Gooch is the latest former England captain to call for Duncan Fletcher to be held accountable for his selection decisions. Just days after Ian Botham called Fletcher "pig-headed" for refusing to pick Monty Panesar for the first two Tests, Gooch said it was not appropriate for the coach to be the senior selector on tour.

England's three-man selection panel - Fletcher, Geoff Miller and the chairman of selectors David Graveney - choose the team make-up in England but on tour the task falls largely to Fletcher and the captain Andrew Flintoff.

Gooch said it was vital that the selection process had input from people outside the team. "There are big questions over the selection and the make-up of the side, and whether England management's structure on tour is the correct one," Gooch said on the BBC. "There have got to be some checks and balances with the selection system. You need a different view from someone else who is able to oversee the whole situation.

"When I started, there used to be a tour manager, who gave a dispassionate view on the side. I would have thought a senior member of the selection panel being on hand would be something to consider. If England lose the Ashes, then the question is going to be 'Who is accountable?'"