Flower says England confident, but muted in celebration

MELBOURNE - England cricket team coach Andy Flower today said that the team’s celebrations in Adelaide had been “pretty muted”, but confident.

“We respect Australia. They are a very good side and a very strong cricket nation, as we all know,” he said, sticking strictly to the time-honoured coach-speak ahead of the team’s clash with Victoria from Friday.

“I wouldn’t say ‘fear’ is a word that comes into our discussions at any time - we try to keep it away. Our guys are confident about our own game,” the Herald Sun quoted Flower, as saying.

Asked about the danger of complacency, Flower retorted: “No, how can we be complacent? We’re ranked No.4 in the world, we’ve got a long way to go and we’re still only 1-0 up in a five-Test series. That would be a crazy way to think.”

Flower said the squad would approach Victoria in the same way it did the three warm-up games before the first Test - by taking them seriously and trying to win.

The tourists beat Western Australia, drew with South Australia and thrashed an Australian second eleven in Hobart to get off to a positive start, and do not want the momentum to dissipate before next week’s third Test in Perth. (ANI)