Flower: "Players take the rap but it's all down to bad management"

The inexperience of the Zimbabwe side was exposed for all to see during their defeat in the first Test against England at Lord's. The bowling lacked any penetration, and the batting, without the bedrock of Andy Flower to build on, lacked any stability. It was a dispiriting display.

Flower, now retired from international cricket and plying his trade with Essex, knows more than most about Zimbabwean cricket, and he had little solace to offer. While the poor technique of the inexperienced side was to blame for the defeat, he said that he thought the actual reasons go much deeper than that. Freed from the gag imposed by his contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, Flower was scathing in his criticism of the way the sport is run in Zimbabwe.

"This defeat at Lord's is a culmination of what's been happening for years to Zimbabwe cricket," Flower said at the weekend. "The ZCU's selection policy has been so flawed for the last couple of years that the whole foundation of the national squad has been eroded, leading to players retiring early, players lacking confidence and a lack of continuity.

"Peter Chingoka [the ZCU chairman] can say that [a player] has been dropped because he has had a poor average recently, but it's what's happened in the last two years that has led to that poor average. Players take the rap but it's all down to bad management."

Nor was Flower optimistic about the future. "The difference for Zimbabwe is that we have such a low-key domestic structure to start from. Our players have to develop their skills in the international arena, which makes it all-important for the management to create a settled side. All along, I have maintained that the current Zimbabwe squad is at least a batsman light, partly as a result of curtailing a few careers too early. Given the lack of options, I would not advocate making any changes at this stage: the same players should be challenged to put in a better performance.

"It's not easy to be positive," he continued. "The only thing in this squad's favour is that they're all very young. If they learn from this experience, this particular group could be together for five or six years. But they must learn quickly."