Essex Cricket is delighted to announce Keith Fletcher OBE as the Club’s new President.
Keith takes over the position from former teammate David Acfield who has served in the role of President since 2017.
He began his county cricket career at Essex at the age of 17 and scored 29,434 runs during his Essex career, which spanned across 26 years.
The 78-year-old has made the most first-class appearances in the Club’s history, playing 574 matches between 1962-1988.
Fletcher took over the captaincy from Brian Taylor in 1974 and would oversee arguably the greatest period in Essex’s history that included lifting the first County Championship title in the Club’s history in 1979. He would go on to lift the illustrious trophy a further two times, as well as four one-day trophy wins.
He was the 82nd player to be capped by the county in 1963 and would later be awarded a number of other personal accolades during his playing career, which included being a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1974 and named in the 1985 New Year’s Honours list to receive an OBE for his services to cricket.
Following his retirement in 1988 after 971 appearances for Essex, Fletcher took up the Head Coach role at both England and Essex.
Interim Chair, Sir Stephen O’Brien paid tribute on behalf of the Club: “Keith Fletcher is a true legend of the Club and it’s fantastic that he is taking up the position of Club President.
“He is only a small number of players in our history who have captained both Essex and England and he has given so much to Club and Country ever since making his debut at the young age of 17 years old.
“Keith follows in the footsteps of two other highly distinguished Essex greats in David Acfield and Doug Insole and I’m delighted to welcome him into the role.”
After being appointed, Fletcher said: “I’m honoured to be the new President of the Club. It’s a privilege to be appointed at a County that I go a long way back with.
“This continues to be an exciting period for the Club. I’ve watched the current Men’s side win a lot over the last few years and they are a very good team. I truly believe we have a great chance of winning the County Championship this season. Of course, you need a bit of luck along the way but there’s no reason why we can’t go and win Division One once again.”
Fletcher was known for leading the side throughout the golden era for Essex, but the new President believes the current crop of talent are equally as strong.
“The side we had 40 years ago and the squad we have now are very similar. We’ve been a strong and competitive County for a long time now and I’m confident we will continue to be competitive for future seasons to come.”
