Ashes 2013-14: Andy Flower to put off England revolution for now but is likely to oversee it next year
England's head coach does not appear likely to step aside despite disastrous tour of Australia
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Your support makes all the difference.England are pondering whether to ditch the old and go with the new in time for Christmas. It may not be quite so simplistic or sweeping a strategic change but Andy Flower, their coach, revealed that he and his fellow selectors will entertain such revolutionary thoughts in the wake of the tame surrender of the Ashes to Australia.
With two Tests still left in the series, at Melbourne starting on Boxing Day and at Sydney early in the new year, the tourists are undoubtedly feeling the opprobrium of the public even from thousands of miles away. In losing the first three Tests by thumping margins they have gone from favourites to stumblebums in a month. Such dramatic falls inevitably provoke outpourings of outrage.
Having had around 18 hours to dwell on the defeat and its margin – presumably sleep was not that easy to come by – Flower said: “The fact of the matter is we still have two Tests left in the series and those two Tests are very important Test matches. Every Test match is a grand event and, even though we have lost the series, those are two very important Test matches for English cricket.
“One of the challenges we have got is focusing on those and trying to win them but also trying to judge or judging when we start to look to the future and keeping an eye on the future. So I will be chatting with selectors and Alastair Cook, and we will be clarifying that type of strategy over the next few days.”
Knowing Flower, he will probably err on the side of caution. Being the studious and diligent man he is, wholesale changes would be against his natural instincts and so they should be. But he will be keenly aware that, after this series is finished, England have only 12 Test matches before the next Ashes at home in 2015.
He would not be drawn on his own future during Wednesday's briefing but nothing much should be read into his refusal to commit himself to the job beyond this tour. True, he may eventually give serious thought to stepping down, but since being appointed he has always insisted that he never thinks in the long term for himself, only for the direction the team might take. When Flower says his attention is only on the next two Tests in this series, he ought to be believed.
There is soon to be a new managing director, Paul Downton, at the helm of England cricket, as well as a new national selector, James Whitaker. It is Downton’s call to make but should, or when, the pair have a discussion on the matter it should take about five seconds to ensure that Flower stays.
He is not the perfect cricket coach but that is because nobody is. England have played watchful cricket under Flower which has relied on patience and precision, two of the coach’s own attributes. It has failed to work now because Australia came out slugging every day, a controlled whirlwind destroying a carefully assembled structure.
In general, Flower has been nothing but a force for good for English cricket, developing a team to be champions of the world. Equally, he will be away from the squad for large tracts of time in the coming year because of the concentration on one-day cricket before the World Cup.
Ashley Giles takes over as coach and Flower recognises the possibility that he could be distanced from the players. “Two coaches does present different challenges,” he said. “There is a danger of that but it’s not insurmountable.”
Musing on the question for a few moments, he said he believed he still has the ear of the players.
Flower’s next challenge may be to accept that some of his old warhorses should be put out to grass. Either that or he must find a way to regenerate the likes of Graeme Swann, Jimmy Anderson, Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior. All of them are over 30 and regeneration, à la Dr Who, may be neither as straightforward as reconfiguring the Tardis, nor advisable.
There comes a time in the affairs of cricketers as of common men. Even if they are still the best players now, Flower and his advisers have to deduce whether they will still be that in 2015. Australia, incidentally, face a similar conundrum. This Ashes-winning team, containing eight men above 30, will probably represent them in South Africa in two months’ time but after that will need serious refashioning.
Flower was categorical in stating that it was about time some of the senior players stood up, something that to a man they have patently failed to do. But he was equally adamant that England’s style of cricket was not dated. However, they have been outmuscled by Australia in all four departments – batting, bowling, fielding and sledging – though it is not easy to win the sledging when you are being so roundly hammered in the other three.
He may have to be slightly more flexible, though of course he would maintain that he is perfectly flexible – just look at the call-up of Ben Stokes for this series. Stokes’ innings on a worrisome pitch in a losing cause in Perth this week was quite magnificent.
Cook’s dual role as captain and opening batsman seems untouchable, according to Flower. The upshot of the last few matches is that Cook is finding it increasingly hard to combine the two. Flower said that Cook is one of the best opening batsmen in the world, which is or was true. But if his lack of form is affecting the performances of the team, which it is since he has been out for 25 or less in the first innings of five of the last eight Tests, then there comes a time when other options have to be examined.
That time may not yet have been reached but eventually a move to No 3 or the shedding of the captaincy may have to be given more than lip service. There is a vacancy at No 3 in the prolonged absence of Jonathan Trott, and Joe Root, who is occupying it at present, may be as much an opener as Cook.
One of the specific possible changes which Flower addressed yesterday was the replacement of Matt Prior with Jonny Bairstow, the tour’s improbable reserve wicketkeeper batsman. Prior is so badly out of form that it would be understandable were he to be dropped. But he is not the cause, or not the sole cause by a distance of this loss.
Making him a scapegoat would be in nobody’s interest – or perhaps only Australia’s – for the fourth Test and beyond.
England's Tests before the next Ashes series...
26-30 Dec 2013: Australia (Melbourne)
3-7 Jan 2014: Australia (Sydney)
12-16 June: Sri Lanka (Lord’s)
20-24 June: Sri Lanka (H’ley)
9-13 July: India (T Bridge)
17-21 July: India (Lord’s)
27-31 July: India (Rose Bowl)
7-11 Aug: India (O Trafford)
15-19 Aug: India (The Oval)
Spring 2015
Three-Test series in West Indies
Summer 2015
Two Tests at home to N Zealand
Summer 2015
Five Tests at home to Australia
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