Pothas hails Fletcher factor

Duncan Fletcher during his hugely successful spell in charge of the England side between 1999 and 2007

Wicketkeeper Nic Pothas believes former England coach Duncan Fletcher’s input will give Hampshire the edge over their rivals this summer.

Former England coach Fletcher was appointed as a consultant by Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove and worked with the players during their pre-season tour of South Africa.

The 60-year-old is set to return to the Rose Bowl in July to assist first-team coach Giles White for three LV= County Championship games and will fly back in September to make suggestions to the board on the structure of the club.

And Pothas is adamant Fletcher’s advice has set Hampshire up for a successful season ahead of their opening Division One fixture against Worcestershire, which begins today.

“Fletch is phenomenal,” Pothas said. “I’ll put my hand up, I’ve done four tours with Fletch when I was in South Africa and I said to Rod, ‘We don’t really get on’.

“But he and I have got on like an absolute house on fire. I loved every minute of it and he was awesome from the point of view of he throws things out that there just make you think a little bit more.

“In this game you just never stop learning and having a guy like him on board - who’s just been there, done it, been very successful and he’s just a phenomenal cricket brain - has just been absolutely brilliant.

“And the dialogue will continue all the way through the season. I’ll certainly be phoning him and asking him questions. I think he’s going to add that one per cent that we probably haven’t had for the last few years.”

Hampshire looked destined for relegation in the championship last season after winning just once in their first 11 games.

But with White replacing Paul Terry at the helm and Pakistani leg-spinner Imran Tahir arriving as overseas player, the south-coast county turned it around to win four of their last five games and narrowly miss out on the title.

Tahir will not return until June because of injury, but Pothas is confident the side is well placed to challenge for honours.

Nic Pothas is confident Hampshire can challenge for honours in all domestic competitions this year

“We want to win four trophies,” he added. “Is there anything else we can win? We just don’t want to win the fair play award.

Pothas is set for a busy start to the season - as well as his usual keeping and batting duties, he will lead the side in the absence of England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas, who is playing for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.

But White insists the 35-year-old, who played a handful of one-day internationals for South Africa in 2000 but is now qualified to play for England, can manage the workload.

“Nic Pothas is going to take over in Dimi’s absence,” White confirmed. “He was a pretty natural choice; he’s done it before and he’s done it well.

"He’s got a lot on his plate with keeping and batting. He’s a very hard worker so it’s a case of juggling all of these different things for him. He’ll do a good job.”

New arrival Dominic Cork, who joined from Lancashire in the winter, is set for his Hampshire debut against Worcestershire and admits the team have been motivated by some of the media’s pre-season predictions.

The former England bowler said: “It’s good because we’ve been tipped to go down, which is brilliant.

“Sky and BBC have said we’re going to finish seventh and eighth which is great, I think that’s brilliant for us. If that’s not a spur to show the world and English cricket just how good we are...

“Hampshire were unlucky last year. If they had gone on and won one more game then we’d be sitting here as county champions.”