Flower, the best man available for the job
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
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Andy Flower's confirmation as England's new team director says much about the respect he has earned in his short time as coach, but also reflects poorly on the standard of the other applicants for the job, writes Mike Atherton in the Times. He also writes that Flower faces a serious challenge from the IPL and its effect on the England team, and from the upcoming summer with two very high-profile competitions.
He begins his term in one of the most critical years for English cricket in recent memory, a year when the spotlight will be turned on the national team both because of the enticing nature of the contests - the Ashes, World Twenty20 - and because there are no other sporting distractions. It is critical, therefore, that he stamps his authority quickly. Big decisions have to be made - and soon. Should Michael Vaughan be recalled? Who will captain England's Twenty20 team (pray not Shaun Udal)? Is Strauss the right man to lead England's 50-overs team?
The appointment of Andy Flower as England team director means that England now have the captain-coach combination they needed when Michael Vaughan quit last summer – but it has come about by outrageous fluke, writes Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph.
As Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket and the man who appointed Flower made plain, the coach-captain relationship is crucial to an international side. Show a united front and even the top dogs in the dressing-room will come to heel, and that is something that needs to happen if England are to perform as a team and not, as is increasingly the case, as a bunch of disparate, but not untalented, individuals.
Simon Briggs, also writing in the Daily Telegraph, looks at some of the key men Flower will have to bank on for the upcoming Ashes.
Nasser Hussain has a whole bunch of reasons why Flower was the right choice: the strong rapport with Strauss and chief selector Geoff Miller, because he brings in much-needed stability, because he'll push England's players to not settle for mediocrity. More in the Daily Mail.
Never mind the shortage of high-profile candidates for job of team director, the one the ECB has got is highly and recently creditable, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
In the Independent, Stephen Brenkley says Flower is someone capable of making tough decisions, and his rounded attitude to life will undoubtedly help him in dealing with an England dressing room which contains talent of a size often matched by ego.
And, in a lighter vein, Alan Tyers looks at how the key figures in England cricket react to Flower's appointment in the Wisden Cricketer.
The magazine's editor, John Stern, is unhappy with the manner in which the ECB went about hiring Flower.
It is believed that John Wright was interviewed on the phone and that’s it. On the phone? For a job that pays the thick of a quarter of a million quid? The whole headhunters and shortlist business looks like smoke and mirrors. They wanted to give Flower the job from day one and this whole process simply bought the ECB time to see how Flower coped in the West Indies.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo