The credit for England’s rise belongs to coach Flower: Pringle

SYDNEY - Former England fast bowler and now columnist with The Telegraph, Derek Pringle, has said the credit for England’s rise as an international cricket powerhouse again, belongs to coach Andy Flower.

In an article for The Telegraph, Pringle says that since Flower took charge, England has won two Ashes and a World Twenty20.

“Sport is always full of theories. But the primary reason England find themselves in a dominant position over Australia is Andy Flower, the team director, whose appointment came about more by accident than design after the putsch that did for Peter Moores,” says Pringle.

“Flower is the strong, yet understated, beating heart of the team. Andrew Strauss, an equally impressive character, is their figurehead but, like all leaders who perform a public role, there is someone preparing ahead, and mopping up behind to make them look good,” he adds.

However, he says that the England cricket team must now set the euphoria of retaining the Ashes aside, and take up the real challenge of refocusing for the Sydney Test, which starts on Sunday, and try for a much sought after series win.

“There are two sequences to break: winning a Test series in Australia for the first time in 24 years, and the more pressing one of not losing the Test after a victory - something beyond either side in this series,” Pringle says.

Flower said the morning after his team had retained the urn: “We’ve had a very good game, we’re 2-1 up in the series, but that is in the past now. We celebrated yesterday, and that was quite nice, but we want to win the last Test. We don’t want to be satisfied with retaining the Ashes. We want to win the series.”

It would be an impressive addition to his growing list of achievements, following the Ashes win last year as well as the World Twenty20 in May.

“I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved. We all take representing England very seriously and we’re proud to do that. England haven’t been No 1 before and we want to climb the rankings and be No 1 in the world,” Flower said. (ANI)