As expected then, Andy Flower is the new coach, or ‘team director’, and it’s a move that I’m reasonably happy with. He might not be the best man for the job, but he definitely seems like the best available.
Despite losing the series in the West Indies, Flower managed to come out of the tour in credit, backed up by improved one day international performances. The players seem to like and respect him, which is half the battle at international level, where, as Shane Warne keeps pointing out, the actual coaching players require should be minimal.
What’s beyond doubt is that Flower was a superb batsman, and his actions alongside Henry Olonga protesting about the state of Zimbabwe during the 2003 World Cup mark him out as a man of courage and integrity.
In many ways the ECB have managed to fall on their feet following their utter mismanagement of the Kevin Pietersen captaincy debacle. With Strauss and Flower in place of Moores and Pietersen I’m pretty comfortable that we’ve somehow managed to end up with the better operator in each position.
The bigger worry moving forward is the lack of candidates for the role. Most of the big name coaches around the world, the likes of Tom Moody, Mickey Arthur and Gary Kirsten all ruled themselves out of the running before even interviewing. The top job in English cricket should be one of the most coveted positions in world cricket, but I fear the continued abject management at the highest level of the game is putting off the elite coaches.
I wish Andy Flower all the success in the world as England coach, but would love to see a new generation of English coaches coming through when the time comes to replace him. The likes of Ashley Giles, Graham Thorpe and Matthew Maynard are all in the early stages of their domestic coaching careers it would be great to have their home-grown hats in the ring in a few years time.
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