Maynard joins England's one-day coaching set-up

Matthew Maynard has been named as an assistant coach for England's one-day squad for the winter trips to Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Matthew Maynard has been named as an assistant coach for England's one-day squad for the winter trips to Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The 38-year-old, who played 14 one-day internationals for England, will help with the fielding and batting and will team up once more with Duncan Fletcher, his former coach at Glamorgan, where the pair led the team to the 1997 County Championship title.

"Batting is about getting the players to identify their different roles," Maynard said. "England need to identify people who can finish games. Andrew Strauss is the sort of player who should be looking to be there at the end. At the moment it is a winter role and I will be back with Glamorgan next summer." Maynard has been granted a testimonial season in 2005 after breaking the county's record for first-class centuries this year.

"He has the qualifications, experience and energy for the role," Fletcher said.

Andrew Flintoff, the England all-rounder was last night voted One-day International Cricketer of the Year at the International Cricket Council's inaugural awards evening. Flintoff, whose girlfriend gave birth to their first child on Monday, beat off competition from the likes of Australia's Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden and India's Sachin Tendulkar.

"I wouldn't have believed it if someone had said three years ago that I would be getting an award like this and beating players of this stature," Flintoff said. "I'm going through a purple patch in my life and my cricket and I'm just enjoying it at the moment." India's Rahul Dravid was named Test Cricketer of the Year and also won the overall Player of the Year award.

In an attempt to protect the quality of Test cricket the ICC may restrict Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to home Tests only from 2006. For this to take place seven of the 10 full-member countries will need to vote for the change. The two teams are the least lucrative to host so the change is likely to go ahead.

The ICC is also set to ensure at least a three-day gap between Tests from 2006 after complaints by players about their packed itineraries.