PETER MULLEN writes (Echo, Mar 17) with his usual gusto this week to discuss the plight of English cricket.

Although, I think I'd enjoy a pint with the Reverend to debate his passions of current affairs, life and now cricket, it would be a lively discussion as I mostly have an opposite perspective.

He suggests all England need is a Darren Lehmann figure to galvanise the players. He dismisses the notion of sports psychology suggesting it is' "namby-pambyism".

I would contend, that what England need is well-gelled team ethic, a spirit where the goal of winning is core (not lucrative contracts and sponsorships) and a team of eleven players who can think for themselves. And, most crucially, they need 11 talented players.

These characteristics are exactly the features that England's most successful cricket captain, Michael Brearley, fostered. He later became an analytic psychotherapist.

If you read about English cycling successes one can't help be inspired by the role of Dr Steve Peters, a psychiatrist.

As a Middlesbrough fan I understood the importance of Bill Beswick's role as team sports psychologist in the club's most successful period.

Brearley, Peters and Beswick are all motivators; understand of people and leaders who help produce success. Darren Lehmann may display an outward laddish and care-free approach but I suspect the culture he engenders is informed by psychological thinking.

Michael Lloyd, the Australian sports psychologist who works with Lehmann, supported the cricketers after the tragic death of Phillip Hughes.

I'd suggest England would be well advised to ignore Rev Mullen's advice on dismissing the notion of sports psychology.

Richard Bulmer, Sheffield.