Ian Botham has said Duncan Fletcher was right to quit when he did as England coach, branding him "miserable" and "paranoid" when it came to dealing with the media.
Former Zimbabwe captain Fletcher, who oversaw an upturn in England's Test fortunes after taking over in 1999, quit after a lacklustre World Cup campaign which came soon after a 5-0 Ashes hammering in Australia.
Botham, one of England's greatest all-rounders, said it was important now that new coach Peter Moores, formerly in charge of the country's Academy, was given time to establish himself.
"It's a new era now and that's quite right. The curtain had to come to come down on the past era," Botham told Sportsweek on BBC Radio Five Live. The former England captain added: "It was past it's sell-by date. Duncan Fletcher did some extremely good things for the England cricket team but everyone has a shelf life but I'm afraid his had expired.
"England were going nowhere. There was no communication and at times I think Duncan took being miserable to a new level. "You have to communicate with people. You have to be able to talk to the media and I think that Duncan didn't want to.
"In my opinion he was becoming paranoid about the media and what they were saying. That became a major concern and it possibly undermined his position in the team. He seemed totally withdrawn and you can't be like that. "There needed to be a change. It was quite right England reacted and we wish Peter Moores all the very best.
"He's done very well with the academy, he's well respected within the game and I haven't heard a bad word said about him. "Let's get behind him and give him all our support. Hopefully he'll turn things around - the players are there."
Botham said Fletcher was finished as England coach after blaming the coach for selection mistakes at the very outset of the Australia tour, notably the decision to bring back Ashley Giles from injury rather than play in-form left-arm spin rival Monty Panesar. "The Ashes was the nail in the coffin for me. I thought the stubbornness over team selection went to a new level.
"The problem is that once the squad is picked Duncan gets pretty much what he wants. That was very apparent.
"The logic of playing Ashley Giles when he hadn't been playing for 12 months, leaving Monty Panesar out and to take Chris Read out of the side was a catalogue of errors. "To get hammered 5-0 has knocked cricket back many years in this country."
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