Andy Flower : An Innovator In The Game of Cricket But Remained Unsung Hero

Andy Flower :  An Innovator In The Game of Cricket But Remained Unsung Hero

No doubt, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara were the best batsmen in the world for the period 1990 to 2010. In one particular tweet, former spinner of Australia Shane Warne said that Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara were the greatest batsmen that played during his era. He further said that, "There were these two guys, then there was daylight and after that, the rest of the batsmen came”.  But I felt that Shane Warne had missed the name of one batsman who dared to challenge their might with the cricket bat during his era. He was an innovator in Cricket world, but still remained an unsung hero in the world of cricket. He was a well accomplished left- handed batsman and world class wicket-keeper. He was a strong and serious thinker and most successful coach of England for the period 2009 to 2013. Due to him, Zimbabwe started getting recognition in the world of Cricket in the 90s and early 2000s. After his controversial exit from the team of Zimbabwe in 2003, Zimbabwe had a lean patch from which they could not recover.  The name of such a player is Andy Flower.

From Yogesh Gogwekar

Andrew Flower was born on 28^th April 1968 in Cape Town South Africa. He did his school education from Oriel Boys’ High School and Vainona High school. He started playing his cricket from Vainona High school along with his younger brother Grant Flower.  According to his brother Grant, in the beginning Andy was not serious about the game. He was not sure to pursue cricket. After seeing his brother doing well by bat, Andy Flower decided to pursue cricket to become one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen in the world of cricket. In the 90s, the Zimbabwe team included four great players who were whipping boys of international cricket even after their best performances. Names of these players are Heath Streak, Henry Olonga, Grant Flower and Andy Flower. Andy Flower, a left-hander and wicket-keeper, is best among them. He played his first international cricket in one day international in the world cup on 23^rd 1992 against Sri Lanka at New Plymouth, New Zealand and scored a century on One day International debut. He played his first Test match against India on 10^th October 1992. After seeing his consistency in batting and best performance as wicket keeper Zimbabwe Cricket board appointed him as a Captain of Zimbabwe team within two years from the day of his debut and won his first test match as a captain against Pakistan in the series of 1994-95.

Yes, Andy Flowers was one of the best batsmen in the world both in one day international and Test matches. He played 63 test matches and scored 4794 runs in 112 innings with an average of 51.54. He scored twelve centuries and twenty seven fifties with highest score 232 not out which holds the record for the highest ever test score by a wicketkeeper batsman in an inning of a test. He played space and spin in an equal authoritarian manner. As a wicket keeper, he took 151 catches and 9 times stumping. His memorable innings in Test cricket were against India in 2000-2001 and against South Africa in 2001 Test series.  Against India in the 2000-01 series, he scored 183 (Not out), 70, 55 and 232 (not out). This is his invincible performance and helped him to win the player of the series. Against South Africa in Proteas in 2001 series, he scored 142 in first inning and 199 not out in second inning which helped Zimbabwe to avoid an inning defeat. Therefore, he always used to say that he would like to play in India sub-continent and also in South Africa. His performance as a batsman always gives frustration to the bowlers of the opposite team.

He played 213 One Day International matches where he scored 6786 runs in 208 innings with an average of 35.34. He made 4 centuries and 55 fifties with a top score of 145. He took 144 catches and did 32 stumpings in One Day game. He was the first player to score his debut century in One day games in the World Cup. He also holds the record of making his second century in One Day games after 149 matches. When he scored his 2^nd century, it was his 150^th One Day International. He was the only Zimbabwean who appeared 31 times in ICIC’s Top 100 All-time Test Batting rankings. Other players often appeared are Brain Lara 23 times, Sachin Tendulkar 29 times, Steve Waugh 31 times and Rahul Dravid 33 times. His best inning is being considered against Sri Lanka in the 1999-2000 series at Queen’s park oval, where he scored 74 runs without losing his concentration when Zimbabwe was 0 for 3 and Nuwan Zoysa of Sri Lanka had taken a hat-trick.  His partnership of 130 runs for 7^th wicket with Heath Streak against England in October 2001 at Harare was also considered as the best inning in One Day International.

I always consider Andy Flower an innovator. Some players make changes in the law of game by introducing new formats in the games. There are so many players who have created their own impact by introducing the new dimensions in batting, bowling and fielding which bring different approaches in the game and their legacy become permanently etched in stone.  Viv Richards introduced perfect shots by playing across the line, Sarfaz Nawaz of Pakistan Introduced reverse swing, Saqlain Mushtaq introduced doosra, M S Dhoni Introduced Helicopter Shot.  Among these leading lights, there is Andy Flower who introduced the Reverse Sweep in cricket. It is being said that reverse sweep was already in existence in international cricket. This stroke was first played by Hanif Mohammad but it was popularised by his brother Mushtaq Mohammad. It is not easy to play this stroke. It requires a lot of control and also plenty of wrist power to play. It depends on the field setting also. Master players take advantage of the field setting and exploit the gaps towards third man and backward points. Andy Flower was a master in it and it became key to bring the transformation in the Zimbabwe team.

Such a great player made his exit from the Cricket team in the most controversial way.  This happened in a World Cup match of 2003. On 10^th February 2003, Andy Flower and his teammate Henry Olonga made a political protest against the oppressive regime of President Robert Mugabe. In the first match against Namibia of the tournaments took the field by wearing black armbands by issuing the statement,” In doing so we are mourning our democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe. In doing so we pray that our small action may help to restore sanity and dignity of our nation”. When they did this, Mugabe was the President of Zimbabwe and both these players had to leave not only Cricket but also their beloved country. They went to the UK and settled down there. Andy Flower continued to play cricket for Essex till 2006. He retired from first class cricket and took up the coaching. Olonga was trained as a classical singer. He developed his career in music and also became a speaker after dinner.  For this, Andy flower was not having any regrets. For that he said, “I wish that we should have campaigned more thereafter. We didn’t seem … I certainly had a young family. I didn’t feel like I had the energy or the time or the focus away from playing, to devote to campaigning”.

In England, he became a coach for English team from 2009 to 2011. In 2020, he helped England to win their first twenty-twenty tournament title and also a successful victory against Australia in the 2010-2011 Test series. He resigned as a coach of England after the defeat of England in the Ashes series of 2013-14. Later on, he became the assistant coach of King’s supper XI of Punjab in IPL, and head coach of Multan Sultan and St Lucia Zouks. In one particular interview, he has talked about his experience as a coach.  He said that, “it was quite a different way of coaching. On the international scene, you have your squads of players pretty much all year, and therefore, (you) have a very good access to them and the opportunity to control your training environments and schedules to a large extent. Therefore, the opportunity to work with and develop, and help develop, the potential in players is greater than the opportunity you have in these franchise leagues”. For coaching at franchise leagues, he said that, ”These franchise leagues are usually of a short duration, during which time the players competing in matches a lot of the time. And training, therefore, is often devoted to getting the player ready to play, ready to compete. So, when you're coaching you should be constantly aware of your effect on the people around you. Usually, the head coach has quite a significant influence on the environment and people, and that's quite a responsibility to carry as a leader”.

With cricket, he has done some charity work not only for Children of Zimbabwe  but also for the world. He raised thousands of amounts to help them. He became an Ambassador for Malignant Melanoma Support group, Melanoma, U K.

Andy Flower will be remembered for his contribution towards cricket as a wicket-keeper batsman and also as a coach of England. But he will be more remembered to stitch his successful career not in Zimbabwe but in other countries. It was a great loss to Zimbabwe as they are not able to develop another Andy Flower.

Mumbai

25/10/2020