LONDON Nov 10: The former Warwickshire and England all rounder Dermot Reeve launched a blistering verbal as sault on England captain Michael Atherton on Saturday, reports AFP

Somerset's new coach Reeve rubbished Atherton s captaincy during the World Cup saying he "lacked drive, purpose and flair "

He added: Add to that his passive body language and you're struggliiig when the team is up against it".

Reeve, the most successful county captain of the 1990s. was equally critical of the then chairman of selectors. Ray Illingworth.

He said: "I don't dislike Ray Illingworth as a person but. when I played for England in South Africa and the World Cup last winter. I was surprised and disappointed by his approach to management.

"I believe in getting the best out of players by encouraging them rather than attempting to motivate by intimidation as Illy did.

Reeve, writing in his autobiography Dermot Reeve's Winning Ways' which is due to be serialised in the Daily Mail next week said he was never given the chance to discuss tactics during the meetings

"Atherton, who should have taken the lead, seemed to want to get the meetings over as quickly as possible. So the team went out badly prepared." he continued.

Reeve's criticism of bigname cricket figures included West Indian Brian Lara who joined him at Warwickshire in 1995 after his record-breaking exploits against England the previous winter.

But the two failed to hit it off and Reeve admitted: from the start, the chemistry wasn t right between us. It soon got back to me that he was making sniping comments about me on the field."