'No plan to sack Dawes'

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday refuted report on a website that it was planning to appoint an Indian assistant coach in place of bowling coach Joe Dawes, whose contract is unlikely to be extended in the wake of consistent poor show by the bowlers.

“Nothing of this sort is being planned and this is not going to come up at the Working Committee meeting (tomorrow in Bhubaneswar),” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel told PTI when asked about the report.

“We have to take stock of the situation by talking to the coach (Fletcher). India is now touring,” added Patel.

The coach’s contractual tenure, as well as those of bowling coach Joe Dawes and fielding coach Trevor Penney, ends on March 31.

The report, quoting an unnamed BCCI insider, said that while the tenure of Fletcher and Penney are expected to be extended till the 2015 World Cup, Dawes is likely to be given the boot because of the recent poor display of the Indian bowlers overseas.

“A BCCI insider confirmed that most of the BCCI bigwigs are ‘quite happy’ with the way Fletcher and Penney have been handling the team,” the report stated.

“However Dawes seems to have lost the confidence of the BCCI top brass with the Indian bowling consistently faltering in various conditions.