Keith William Robert Fletcher (born 20 May 1944) is an English former first-class cricketer who played for Essex and England. He later became England's team manager. His nickname was "The Gnome of Essex", so christened by his Essex teammate, Ray East, because Fletcher's winklepickers had begun to curl up at the toes due to wear. Cricket writer Colin Bateman noted that "Fletcher was a tough cookie, a shrewd man who could bluff opponents like the most disarming of poker players. He evoked loyalty in his teammates and admiration from his opponents, even when they were beaten by the sucker punch". Bateman added "the sacking of Fletcher as England captain remains one of English cricket's shabbiest sagas". Fletcher played 59 Test matches and 24 One Day Internationals. His Test tally of 3,272 runs came at an average of 39.90. Life and career Keith started playing for his village side while living with his parents in Caldecote, Cambridgeshire, before moving to Royston, Hertfordshire to play for the local cricket club's second team at the age of 13. It was not long before he moved up to play for the first team. It was while playing for Royston that Fletcher hit his first-ever century, and he produced his finest bowling figures, taking 9–20 on his first-team debut. His county cricket career at Essex began at the age of 17. He toured Pakistan with the MCC Under-25 side in 1966–67, and made his England Test debut in 1968 at Headingley against Australia. A baptism of fire, he found hostility from the Yorkshire crowd who felt that Phil Sharpe should have been preferred, and Fletcher's experience was not helped by dropping regulation catches at slip. A first innings duck seemed to be the portent of his early introverted batting stints in the national team. However, Fletcher was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1974. His debut century for England did not occur until Fletcher's 20th Test appearance. He went on to score six more centuries, at a rate of one every eight Tests, his highest Test score of 216 coming against New Zealand in 1975. His cricketing nous was used by both Tony Lewis and Tony Greig when they led the national team, but like many England batters of his era he struggled against Australia, and particularly in dealing with the bowling of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee in 1974–5; he did make one