The team director reveals deep based philosophy as he calmly goes about building the right spirit for the Ashes campaign.
So I tell Andy Flower my Sir Alex Ferguson story: about how I found myself in the Manchester United changing room some years ago, minutes before the start of a critical fixture against Arsenal; about how the atmosphere was unbelievably relaxed - players playing cards, watching telly, that kind of thing; and about how Ferguson was nowhere to be seen.
When I asked Ferguson about his absence afterwards, he said that the preparations had been done days before and there was no need to be there because he had absolute faith in his team.
Flower likes the story because it chimes with his coaching philosophy, about which we are speaking to promote the Sky SportsECB Coach Education Programme. It is a philosophy centred on empowering players to make their own choices and raising their self-awareness. “The more trust you place in people, I believe the more they will repay you; the better you understand yourself, the better your chances of success as a player,” the England team director said.
Although he has never said it, I suspect Flower looks at his England team and sees a bunch of narrow-minded, overly cosseted cricketers. No one could accuse Flower of that, coming from Zimbabwe, seeing at first hand the disintegration of a country and becoming politicised inevitably because of it. He wouldn't wish that experience on anyone, but he does want to broaden the England players' minds and help them to grow as human beings.
“That was the most important aim of the trip to Flanders,” he said, reflecting on England's pre-Ashes bonding journey. “Sometimes as cricketers you get caught up in your own little world and don't enjoy a wide enough range of experiences. We wanted to reconnect with English history a little to help the players appreciate who they are and where they fit in. We've put a lot of effort into personal growth, leadership and development programmes, and Flanders was part of that. It was not Ashes-specific.”
Rather than bringing the team some welcome headlines, though, the trip turned into something of a PR disaster, with the news that one player forgot the only thing he had to remember - his passport - and that Andrew Flintoff was too hung-over to make the team bus on time. Andrew Strauss, attempting to defend the all-rounder, was sidetracked into admitting that team discipline is not what it should be, generally. How disappointed was Flower with the fallout?
“I know what we got out of it as a group, so we are very comfortable with that. It was a very worthwhile experience and sometimes a moving experience. I know that the perception is that it has been sullied in some way, but I'm happy with what we got from it. I'm obviously disappointed with the hullabaloo that followed because we don't want that of kind of publicity.
“In any team there are timekeeping issues because people aren't perfect. I wouldn't say we are outstandingly bad compared to other teams I've worked in. There are always issues that crop up. It is important we iron it out, though, because poor timekeeping and bad discipline are common denominators of poor teams. We also have a lot of mutual respect, cohesion and fun, which are common values to good teams.”
At this point, Flintoff is inevitably the elephant in the room. The all-rounder's ill discipline was fundamental to the slow strangulation of Duncan Fletcher's impressive stint as England head coach. How far does the knowledge of that put Flower in an awkward position now? “It doesn't, because every player starts with a clean slate and I'm not judging him on anything that went before,” he said. “He made a bad mistake but I'll tell you right now that I've made more mistakes than Andrew Flintoff. He apologised to the team and pledged his commitment to do things well for the rest of the summer. Obviously, we had to speak to him privately about it and he has been formally warned. But that is the end of the matter for us as a team. It might come up in the press again, but we can move on.”
But will he be prepared to drop a big-name player, no matter who it is, for a significant lapse of discipline during the Ashes? “It's a sensitive issue: I won't just say, ‘Yes, of course I would' just because that is what everyone wants to hear. What I will say is that this particular situation was not a big enough thing for me to drop Andrew Flintoff. No way was it a serious enough issue to do that, to finish someone's career. I'm very clear in my own mind about that.
“But if a difficult decision has to be made, we will make a difficult decision. But, you know, those are often not the most difficult decisions because if someone transgresses seriously enough in your judgment, it becomes a simple decision - you just do it because it is the right thing to do for the team. All the decisions we make are in the best interests of the England cricket team; there are no hidden agendas at all - it's simple.
“In the car this morning I was listening to Ronnie Irani on the radio. Now Ronnie is an old friend from Essex, but there were some things being said on that show about how Flintoff should be axed straight away and shouldn't take any part in the Ashes.
“It was utterly ridiculous. We're talking about the end of someone's England career and I'm not prepared to finish someone's career on that basis. It's just crazy talk.”
Flower is about to embark on the most high-profile two months of his cricketing life, but nothing in his career, either as a brilliant player for Zimbabwe or during his brief time as coach can compare to an Ashes series. Is it a fair question to ask why we should have faith in him? “It's certainly valid,” he said. “In fact, you could go further and say that playing for Zimbabwe means that I know little about winning in international cricket.
“But just because you haven't experienced a specific situation doesn't mean you can't add value. If you took that attitude you would never blood a young player, for example. When you break it down into its simplest version, it's about one team trying to beat another. Whether you call it the Ashes or not, that doesn't change.”
He has coached formally ever since his twenties and says that he has pinched the good bits from every coach he has worked with, and remembered some of the bad, too.
He admired the no-nonsense attitude of John Hampshire, the former Yorkshire and England player, who coached Zimbabwe, and his emphasis on keeping things simple and doing the basics well; there was the tactical and technical knowledge of Dave Houghton and the freedom and lack of scrutiny given to him by Carl Rackemann, both of whom also coached Zimbabwe; Graham Gooch's enthusiasm, love of the game and work ethic at Essex; and the way Peter Moores, the previous England head coach, challenged him and made every day a joyful one.
He has also met twice with John Buchanan, the former Australia coach, in the past month (“I've really enjoyed talking with him, throwing different ideas around”) to pick his brains about the Australians.
Faith in himself, then, with enough experience of his own and other coaches to draw on. But, to come back to the Ferguson story, how much faith does he have in his team? “We're some way from the Ferguson ideal, if I'm honest, because we're fifth in the world,” he said. “If we were close to it, then we would be closer to No1 in the world. Once we are in the position where the players are making good decisions for themselves, and making good decisions under pressure, then I assure you we will be where I want us to be.
“We have a good chance this summer and I believe we can win, but I'm not about to make predictions. We're not scared of favouritism, but I don't think we're favourites because they are the No 1-ranked team in the world. We have home advantage, though, and there are vulnerabilities in this Australian outfit that were not there before.
“They have lost a wealth of experience: Warne, Gilchrist, McGrath, Gillespie, Hayden and Langer. Any side losing those sorts of people is going to be weakened. Some of those guys were once-a-generation players,great characters on the field and in the dressing room. We certainly respect them still, but we don't fear them.”
How Andy Flower grew into the job
He was born in April 28, 1968, in Cape Town, South Africa
Played 63 Tests and 213 one-day internationals for Zimbabwe. Scored 4,794 Test runs at an average of 51.54, including 12 hundreds
A former world No 1 batsman, he is rated by the ICC as the 24th-best batsman in history
Captained Zimbabwe from 1993-96 and 1999-2000
Retired from international cricket after 2003 World Cup when he and Henry Olonga led a protest against “death of democracy” in Zimbabwe
Became England assistant coach in 2007 and took over as acting head coach after Peter Moores departed in January. Was made full-time team director at the start of this season
Source:The times
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Lions restore pride with record-equalling win
South Africa 9 Lions 28.
ON THE menu in Johannesburg, just deserts; and also what was, in the circumstances, one of the best and most heroic performances in the history of the Lions. They had to absorb the savage blow of losing a second Test in which they were cantering, they had to absorb such a list of injuries that Mike Phillips, the brilliant scrum-half, had to play the last quarter of this magnificent occasion in the centre, where he would have been roughly the 65th choice.
And if you know your rugby touring, if you know how ferociously difficult it is to win the final Test, and especially one played in Johannesburg where the Springboks have hardly ever lost, then you would not devalue this Lions epic by as much as one point.
Reflecting in this dangerous city last night, I simply could not conclude that South Africa had proved themselves a better team than Paul O’Connell’s men after what has been one of the finest series in history.
South Africa were completely and utterly shut down. The Lions played such an effervescent brand of rugby, breaking the Springbok line almost at will, and it was quite incredible that in the closing stages of this almost endless season, they were still buzzing around in attack and still making colossal hits on the defensive line. By the end, too, they were pulverising South Africa up front, with the likes of Andrew Sheridan, Phil Vickery, John Hayes and O’Connell rumbling forward. John Smit, the South Africa captain, has been outstanding in this series but after an afternoon against Sheridan, he wandered off looking like an old man who had gone on too long.
It was also yet another amazing triumph for Ian McGeechan, the tactical master. The Lions used the sheer front-on power of the South Africans, using South African momentum to attack at the sides of the intended tackle, playing a brand of rugby for which Britain and Ireland is not normally renowned.
But even deeper at the heart of this victory was sporting heroism. The togetherness of these Lions in adversity has been almost beyond praise, and there is surely no one on the planet who can begrudge them this thunderous victory.
Peter de Villiers, the South Africa coach, began the week by demeaning the game with his refusal to condemn eye-gouging. He demeaned the Springbok jersey by leaving out some leading players. In the second half, in a panic, he brought on the fifth cavalry, only to find that their bugle was silenced.
South Africa wore armbands in support, so they said, of Bakkies Botha, who was suspended after the second Test. Botha’s suspension was then confirmed by an independent tribunal, and Adam Jones, the Lions prop whom Botha illegally charged, could be out of the game for nine months. The sheer inappropriate pomposity of South Africa’s gesture took the breath away, and they should remember that their status as world champions conveys a responsibility to the game at large, not simply to one player.
How much more fitting were the words of Smit afterwards. “This has been a fantastic series, and to tie the Lions is the biggest thing in sport. They must continue. They were a fantastic side today and they deserved it.”
The opening stages had been significant for the crushing of the Beast. Vickery had suffered an individual disaster when he played against Tendai Mtawarira in Durban. But here in the first scrum, at a psychologically devastating moment, Vickery and Matthew Rees blasted Mtawarira clean out of the scrum, the referee awarded the Lions a penalty and it was 3-0, and sweet revenge. When the revived Vickery was replaced at the end to a standing ovation from 25,000 Lions fans, he was bawling: “Who is the Beast?” to the Johannesburg skies.
And the Lions deserved nothing less than a lead for a bright start, with Phillips and Stephen Jones prompting madly, and with the ball being off-loaded out of tackles. And thrillingly, the Lions scored two memorable tries to pull clear. The first one came at the end of a series of South African attacks, which brought the best from the Lions defence and which ended when Ugo Monye turned the ball over. The Lions counter-attacked, Riki Flutey and Tommy Bowe took the ball on and then Jamie Heaslip battered his way through a series of attempted tackles. Shane Williams then ran a beautiful supporting line and scored at the posts. Disastrously, the ball fell off the kicking tee as Jones was running up to take the conversion and South Africa scrambled it away.
The Lions produced another dazzling move when electric passing from Bowe, Rob Kearney and Flutey sent Williams away down the left, but a clever chip infield by Williams found no Lions chasers.
No matter. They came again. They broke up the South African attack, Flutey took the ball on and chipped ahead, regathered and popped the ball inside for Williams to run to the posts. This time the ball stayed on its tee and Jones made it 15-3.
There was some alarm near half-time when Simon Shaw dropped a knee on Fourie du Preez and was sent to the sin-bin. South Africa swarmed all over the Lions but they managed only one penalty on half-time, and when Shaw returned early in the second half, there was no more damage.
Except to South Africa. They launched probably their most threatening series of attacks just after the 50-minute mark, but the Lions held their forward drives and forced South Africa to go wide. Yet a pass from Wynard Olivier, intended for Zane Kirchner, was picked off dramatically by Monye, and the Lion wing went scorching over 80 metres to the posts.
South Africa did kick a penalty, awarded at the breakdown, but by now the Lions replacements were reviving the team and the Springbok’s attacking potential was confined to doomed blundering by Francois Steyn from full-back.
And the Lions even got a break from the official. The touch judge spotted Phillips being manhandled vigorously off the ball, and also spotted a late charge by Pierre Spies. Stephen Jones calmly put the Lions out of sight with two penalties and the television match official then ruled out what appeared to be a perfectly good try by Odwa Ndungane.
The Lions gathered to applaud South Africa as the series trophy was awarded, then lapped the ground to wave to the massed banks of red. It has been a bizarre tour, in the sense that in defeat the grand name of the Lions has been enhanced. And yet in the end, how painful is the defeat, when you realise that it could all have been so different?
Star man: Rob Kearney (Lions)
Scorers: South Africa: Pens: M Steyn (3)
Lions: Tries: S Williams 25, 33, Monye 54 Cons: Jones (2) Pens: Jones (2)
Yellow card: Lions: Shaw 37
Referee: S Dickinson (Australia)
Attendance: 62,567
SOUTH AFRICA: Z Kirchner (F Steyn 57mins); O Ndungane, J Fourie (F Steyn 24-28mins), W Olivier, J Nokwe (P Spies 65mins); M Steyn, F du Preez (R Pienaar 41mins); T Mtawarira, M Ralepelle (B du Plessis 41mins), J Smit (capt), J Muller, V Matfield, H Brüssow, R Kankowski, J Smith
LIONS: R Kearney; U Monye, T Bowe, R Flutey (H Ellis 55mins), S Williams; S Jones, M Phillips; A Sheridan, M Rees (R Ford 37mins), P Vickery (J Hayes 55mins), S Shaw (A W Jones 68mins), P O’Connell (capt), J Worsley (T Croft 31-35mins; 66mins), J Heaslip, M Williams (D Wallace 76mins)
Source:The times
ON THE menu in Johannesburg, just deserts; and also what was, in the circumstances, one of the best and most heroic performances in the history of the Lions. They had to absorb the savage blow of losing a second Test in which they were cantering, they had to absorb such a list of injuries that Mike Phillips, the brilliant scrum-half, had to play the last quarter of this magnificent occasion in the centre, where he would have been roughly the 65th choice.
And if you know your rugby touring, if you know how ferociously difficult it is to win the final Test, and especially one played in Johannesburg where the Springboks have hardly ever lost, then you would not devalue this Lions epic by as much as one point.
Reflecting in this dangerous city last night, I simply could not conclude that South Africa had proved themselves a better team than Paul O’Connell’s men after what has been one of the finest series in history.
South Africa were completely and utterly shut down. The Lions played such an effervescent brand of rugby, breaking the Springbok line almost at will, and it was quite incredible that in the closing stages of this almost endless season, they were still buzzing around in attack and still making colossal hits on the defensive line. By the end, too, they were pulverising South Africa up front, with the likes of Andrew Sheridan, Phil Vickery, John Hayes and O’Connell rumbling forward. John Smit, the South Africa captain, has been outstanding in this series but after an afternoon against Sheridan, he wandered off looking like an old man who had gone on too long.
It was also yet another amazing triumph for Ian McGeechan, the tactical master. The Lions used the sheer front-on power of the South Africans, using South African momentum to attack at the sides of the intended tackle, playing a brand of rugby for which Britain and Ireland is not normally renowned.
But even deeper at the heart of this victory was sporting heroism. The togetherness of these Lions in adversity has been almost beyond praise, and there is surely no one on the planet who can begrudge them this thunderous victory.
Peter de Villiers, the South Africa coach, began the week by demeaning the game with his refusal to condemn eye-gouging. He demeaned the Springbok jersey by leaving out some leading players. In the second half, in a panic, he brought on the fifth cavalry, only to find that their bugle was silenced.
South Africa wore armbands in support, so they said, of Bakkies Botha, who was suspended after the second Test. Botha’s suspension was then confirmed by an independent tribunal, and Adam Jones, the Lions prop whom Botha illegally charged, could be out of the game for nine months. The sheer inappropriate pomposity of South Africa’s gesture took the breath away, and they should remember that their status as world champions conveys a responsibility to the game at large, not simply to one player.
How much more fitting were the words of Smit afterwards. “This has been a fantastic series, and to tie the Lions is the biggest thing in sport. They must continue. They were a fantastic side today and they deserved it.”
The opening stages had been significant for the crushing of the Beast. Vickery had suffered an individual disaster when he played against Tendai Mtawarira in Durban. But here in the first scrum, at a psychologically devastating moment, Vickery and Matthew Rees blasted Mtawarira clean out of the scrum, the referee awarded the Lions a penalty and it was 3-0, and sweet revenge. When the revived Vickery was replaced at the end to a standing ovation from 25,000 Lions fans, he was bawling: “Who is the Beast?” to the Johannesburg skies.
And the Lions deserved nothing less than a lead for a bright start, with Phillips and Stephen Jones prompting madly, and with the ball being off-loaded out of tackles. And thrillingly, the Lions scored two memorable tries to pull clear. The first one came at the end of a series of South African attacks, which brought the best from the Lions defence and which ended when Ugo Monye turned the ball over. The Lions counter-attacked, Riki Flutey and Tommy Bowe took the ball on and then Jamie Heaslip battered his way through a series of attempted tackles. Shane Williams then ran a beautiful supporting line and scored at the posts. Disastrously, the ball fell off the kicking tee as Jones was running up to take the conversion and South Africa scrambled it away.
The Lions produced another dazzling move when electric passing from Bowe, Rob Kearney and Flutey sent Williams away down the left, but a clever chip infield by Williams found no Lions chasers.
No matter. They came again. They broke up the South African attack, Flutey took the ball on and chipped ahead, regathered and popped the ball inside for Williams to run to the posts. This time the ball stayed on its tee and Jones made it 15-3.
There was some alarm near half-time when Simon Shaw dropped a knee on Fourie du Preez and was sent to the sin-bin. South Africa swarmed all over the Lions but they managed only one penalty on half-time, and when Shaw returned early in the second half, there was no more damage.
Except to South Africa. They launched probably their most threatening series of attacks just after the 50-minute mark, but the Lions held their forward drives and forced South Africa to go wide. Yet a pass from Wynard Olivier, intended for Zane Kirchner, was picked off dramatically by Monye, and the Lion wing went scorching over 80 metres to the posts.
South Africa did kick a penalty, awarded at the breakdown, but by now the Lions replacements were reviving the team and the Springbok’s attacking potential was confined to doomed blundering by Francois Steyn from full-back.
And the Lions even got a break from the official. The touch judge spotted Phillips being manhandled vigorously off the ball, and also spotted a late charge by Pierre Spies. Stephen Jones calmly put the Lions out of sight with two penalties and the television match official then ruled out what appeared to be a perfectly good try by Odwa Ndungane.
The Lions gathered to applaud South Africa as the series trophy was awarded, then lapped the ground to wave to the massed banks of red. It has been a bizarre tour, in the sense that in defeat the grand name of the Lions has been enhanced. And yet in the end, how painful is the defeat, when you realise that it could all have been so different?
Star man: Rob Kearney (Lions)
Scorers: South Africa: Pens: M Steyn (3)
Lions: Tries: S Williams 25, 33, Monye 54 Cons: Jones (2) Pens: Jones (2)
Yellow card: Lions: Shaw 37
Referee: S Dickinson (Australia)
Attendance: 62,567
SOUTH AFRICA: Z Kirchner (F Steyn 57mins); O Ndungane, J Fourie (F Steyn 24-28mins), W Olivier, J Nokwe (P Spies 65mins); M Steyn, F du Preez (R Pienaar 41mins); T Mtawarira, M Ralepelle (B du Plessis 41mins), J Smit (capt), J Muller, V Matfield, H Brüssow, R Kankowski, J Smith
LIONS: R Kearney; U Monye, T Bowe, R Flutey (H Ellis 55mins), S Williams; S Jones, M Phillips; A Sheridan, M Rees (R Ford 37mins), P Vickery (J Hayes 55mins), S Shaw (A W Jones 68mins), P O’Connell (capt), J Worsley (T Croft 31-35mins; 66mins), J Heaslip, M Williams (D Wallace 76mins)
Source:The times
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