Lloyds backs Flower to get England playing as a team

Published on Thursday 16 April 2009 23:03

FORMER England coach David Lloyd is confident Andy Flower will restore the team's fortunes this summer. Flower was unveiled as England's new team director yesterday after impressing in temporary charge during the recent West Indies tour.

His appointment comes after a torrid winter in which England suffered Test series defeats in India and the West Indies and sacked coach Peter Moores after a public rift with then captain Kevin Pietersen.

Lloyd, England coach from 1996-99, believes former Zimbabwe captain Flower will turn things around by inspiring the players and instilling a strong team ethic. Lloyd said: "Andy Flower is an excellent choice. He is a very good man and he knows the game inside out.

"When he was a player he was the No1 batsman in the world. And when you look at where Flower has come from, and how he had to leave his home country, he is a very inspirational bloke.

"But he needs a team, you need the players. I think England are a decent side, but it is a mystery why they don't win more. When you look at them individually, they are very good players but, collectively, they don't get the results they should.

"I think Andy Flower will remove a culture of 11 PLCs – that's 11 individual companies within a team rather than a team. That will be his top priority, making this squad play as a team."

Flower has already formed a promising partnership with new captain Andrew Strauss, but Lloyd insists the work has barely begun. "He works really well with Strauss," said Lloyd as he helped load a container in Warrington with donated cricket equipment for shipment to Sri Lanka. "They are a very strong combination and a very honest pairing, but he hasn't started yet.

"I am big mates with Nasser Hussain, but when I was England coach it took me months to get to know him. Andy Flower has done a little bit of ground work but, having done that now, I expect him to be quite decisive with certain players.

"They left out (Monty) Panesar, (Ian) Bell and (Steve) Harmison and there could be more of that to come."

Lloyd is a patron of the Epiphany Trust, a charitable organisation that has undertaken numerous projects in deprived areas of Sri Lanka. The latest has seen them collect equipment from cricket clubs across the north-west of England for donation to schools and clubs on the island, devastated by the 2004 tsunami.

Lloyd said: "It's quite staggering how many bags are here. I won't be surprised if one or two of the Test players don't raid this lot! It is a massive consignment.

"They will be absolutely delighted when this stuff actually gets there. It's a wonderful idea. You are talking about families and children that are completely displaced and still recovering from a huge natural disaster.

"Cricket is the premier sport and the premier release over there and I can promise you they won't have equipment like this.

"It will be a wonderful inspiration to them. I'm being deadly serious now, one or two Test players will emerge because of this. That is for definite."