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Oz media slams Fletcher for changing stance on DRS

Seething after the Australian cricket team suffered a couple of setbacks in the first Test because of India's refusal to have the Decision Review System, the media Down Under trained its guns on the visiting team's coach, Duncan Fletcher, who has supported the DRS in the past.

Mike Hussey (0) and Ed Cowan (68) fell to controversial decisions on the opening day today leaving Australia on shaky grounds at 277 for six.

India's refusal to use DRS meant there were no referrals for these decisions and Fletcher, who had been a vocal supporter of DRS during his coaching stint with England, drew the ire of an agitated media.

"Duncan Fletcher hates hypocrites. The Indian coach must have trouble looking at himself in the mirror. For well over a decade, Fletcher has been a strong advocate for using technology to enhance umpiring decisions," said The Herald Sun.

'Fletcher is a mute stooge'

"Now he is a mute stooge as the flat earthers who run Indian cricket refuse to embrace the umpire decision review system (DRS) for the four-Test series, beginning in Melbourne today," it added.

In his book -- Behind the Shades -- Fletcher has stated that he was annoyed when the ECB did not consult him when the DRS was trialled in county cricket during 2007.

"The introduction of this referral system actually helped in my eventual resignation from the England job," Fletcher had written.

"I was already feeling that the ECB was showing me no support during the World Cup in 2007 but it really miffed me that nobody spoke to me about this system. It was my idea after all, and nothing had changed since I first thought of it in Western Province in 1995."

India, a staunch opposer of the system, had refused to allow the DRS' usage despite Cricket Australia being in favour of it. The ICC rules say that the system can be used only if both the Boards consent to it.