Flower, 40, stepped up from his assistant role in January, following
the dismissal of the former head coach, Peter Moores. Though England’s
results were mixed during a turbulent 11-week tour, he impressed the
selectors with his work ethic and formed a strong bond with the
captain, Andrew Strauss, which was rewarded with a last-gasp victory in
five-match ODI series that followed the Tests.
Flower’s is expected to be approximately 250,000, and his first major
job will be to help select the squad for the first Test against West
Indies, at Lord’s, which begins on May 6. An enlarged squad is expected
to be named at the weekend.
Having called upon the professional headhunting firm, Odgers Ray &
Berndtson, to help pinpoint the ideal candidate for the role, the ECB
were left – partly by design and partly by accident – with what Morris
described as "a very short shortlist". One high-profile target, Western
Australia’s coach, Tom Moody, chose not to put his name forward, while
another, Kent’s coach Graham Ford, the former favourite for the role,
withdrew from the nomination after criticising the long-drawn-out
nature of the process.
Other names mentioned but since ruled out include the coaches of South
Africa and India, Mickey Arthur and Gary Kirsten, while Warwickshire’s
director of cricket, Ashley Giles, was told he lacked sufficient
experience, which left him frustrated. John Wright, the former India
coach and now New Zealand’s high performance manager, remained as the
one genuine competitor but in reality the job always seemed to be
Flower’s since the end of the West Indies tour.
One factor in Flower’s favour, in the short term at least, was the
sheer volume of cricket faced by England’s cricketers in the coming
months. After a period of intense upheaval, encompassing the loss of
three captains and a coach in the space of four months (and with a
fourth captain in the pipeline for the World Twenty20), the time has
come for some consolidation at the top, especially with the Ashes
looming in early July.
It may have taken Flower until the final weeks of England’s tour to
register his first victory in the role, but on his watch the team has
put a greater onus on personal fitness, which will prove invaluable
given that most of the squad faces a non-stop 11-week schedule in the
run-up to the Ashes, starting with the IPL in South Africa for several
key members, including Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen.
Furthermore, Flower will also have to make a call on the readiness of
the former captain, Michael Vaughan, for a return to the Test side. He
quit the captaincy in August on account of a prolonged run of poor
form, and he made just 12 for MCC against Durham in the season opener
at Lord’s last week, but Vaughan’s reputation in Ashes cricket could
well count in his favour, especially if doubts continue to linger about
his competitors for the No.3 spot, Ian Bell and Owais Shah.
Cricinfo
Post published in: News