The fletcher philosophy (especially with the batsmen) was to select players on their attitude and personality, not on their talent or level of performance. I think he felt that he could coach almost anyone on how to bat or bowl but could not fix their character and toughness.
On the bowling front, I think it is safe to say that he was pretty much clueless. His ideology was essentially the same, however with fast bowlers he was only interested in anyone who could bowl 90mph and felt that he could coach them to become good even if they could only land one ball per over in line with the stumps. Unfortunately, as a bowler I would want to go nowhere near Duncan because he knows absolutely nothing about bowling.
Coming back to Trescothick and Vaughan, those are 2 selections amongst over 2 dozen players that were picked during his tenure who were the most disastrous picks in the history of English cricket. Using them as evidence is clutching at straws.
I think you're giving him way too hard a rap there.
I think he absolutely selected players on what he perceived were their talents. In the case of Tres it's obvious from any prolonged viewing that, limited footwork aside, he has a marvellous eye, plays straight and has a full range of shots at his disposal. The legend is that Flecther saw Banger play
this innings for Somerset against Glamorgan and marked him down as a player with test potential, despite his (then) mediocre record. I possibly betray my own bias here, but I'm of the opinion one learns far more from actually watching a player than slavishly pouring over statsguru. Fletcher seems of his ilk too.
As for bowlers, well he gave Harmison & Jones their starts in tests when both had similarly questionable records based on them ticking enough attribute boxes from his own idea of those desireable in test bowlers. Yes, he dropped some bollocks, Mahmood's and Plunkett's continued selections and Swann's non-selection the most egregious, but which coach/selector hasn't, frankly?
I'm not a fanboy of his tho & he is too rigid a thinker for my taste. He wears his prejudices on his sleeve (his fondness for bowlers of pace and love of the slog-sweep are matters of record) and has been occasionally far too quick to judge players who don't seem to fit his ideal identikit. Jon Lewis and, more damningly, Ryan Sidebottom were both summarily dismissed from the test side never to return (under Fletcher) after a single cap apiece presumably because neither was
that quick & their iffy debuts reinforced his partialities in that respect.
He also bears grudges and is utterly convinced his own judgement is impeccable; some of the columns he wrote for The Guardian were hilarious and barely disguised score-settling of perceived slights. He even once, counter-intuitively, gave himself for recognising Swann's potential back when he selected him for his first tour squad in 99/00 but rather skirted over the ticklish whole "never again selecting him" issue.
