England vow to cash in on tired Aussie bowlers

England vow to cash in on tired Aussie bowlers

ADELAIDE - 30th November 2010 (04:00pm) England want to capitalise on the lingering fatigue of Australia’s bowlers in this week’s second Adelaide Ashes Test, coach Andy Flower said on Tuesday. Andy Flower There are only three days of recovery time between the drawn Gabba Test which ended Monday and the renewal of hostilities on Friday at the Adelaide Oval. England go into the Test with the momentum after fighting back from a 221-run innings deficit to grind down the Australian bowling attack over 152 overs and 10-and-a-half hours to draw the Brisbane opener. Flower said the Adelaide Test would provide the chance to follow it through against wearied opponents. “I think in reality, yes, that is the case,” Flower told reporters. “Ideally you want to move on as quickly as possible whether you’ve done well or poorly in the last match, but obviously there is fatigue for some of the bowlers after long spells. Confidence, or lack thereof, is passed from one match to the next. “So yes, there is definitely a connection there.” England’s bowlers will be the relatively fresher after they were required to bowl only 26 overs at Australia in the second innings having rested during Sunday and most of Monday’s play. “I think winning is a habit and fighting out of tough situations is a habit as well, I’m glad our guys are responding in that way to any adversity, and that’s what we expect of them,” Flower said. “I think our batsmen showed they can handle the attack, but that is only one Test we’ve just played, and the real test is over the long term. “I expect them to fight hard and I expect our team to fight hard.” The tourists are expecting off-spinner Graeme Swann to be more influential in the Adelaide Test after he claimed just two wickets for 161 off 50 overs in Brisbane. “Historically, the Adelaide Oval wicket turns and does give the spinners a little bit of help so yes of course (we expect more),” Flower said. “He’s a really experienced campaigner, Graeme Swann, and I think if anything that fires him up, so that’ll give him chances.” “Whatever conditions we’re faced with you’ve got to use them as well as you can. “We played a really good three-day tour game here a little while ago against South Australia and it was really valuable to play on the Test square, and our guys enjoyed playing on that surface.” Flower is back at work after being forced into hurried minor skin cancer surgery in Brisbane last week. Andy Flower

Match-fixing scam mars England win: Andy Flower

Updated at: 1137 PST,  Sunday, September 19, 2010

LONDON: England coach Andy Flower reckons his team’s achievements this summer have been devalued by the controversy surrounding the Pakistan team. The ECB yesterday announced the final two one-day games will definitely go ahead tomorrow and Wednesday – despite further allegations of spot-fixing in Friday’s third match. But Flower is upset that England’s Test series victory – and 2-1 one-day lead – have been overshadowed. He said: It’s really sad for the game. “From a selfish perspective, it’s really annoying. “It devalues our Test series success and it’s also devaluing this one-day series. “But looking at it from the game’s point of view – which is what we should all do – it’s very sad for cricket.” The suspicion cast on events is felt, of course, not only by those asked to play but those who have continued to pay to watch. Flower added: “It supplants the story of the game with the controversy of alleged cheating – and the story should be about the cricket and competition between two teams representing their country.” All Flower and captain Andrew Strauss can do is to keep encouraging their players to prevent any Pakistan fightback in the one-day series. Flower said: “There is only one way we should be approaching it and that is doing our job as well as we can – because there is little good to be gained from anything else. “We have discussed it as a team. There are all sorts of distractions thrown your way when you play – and for us, the healthiest place to be is viewing it as a distraction that should not detract from our focus.” But Flower admitted the allegations overshadowing the series inevitably take their toll on team relations. He said: “I don’t really want to go into detail. But, of course, things like this affect the relationship between the sides. “We want to go to Lord’s and win the game and series. That’s as simple as we’ll keep it.” The ICC have confirmed they are looking at betting patterns in Friday’s match. ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said: “We were informed a certain scoring pattern would emerge during certain stages of the match – and broadly speaking that information appeared to be correct. “We feel it is incumbent upon us to launch a full inquiry into this particular game.” Pakistan Cricket Board legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi resonded last night by saying: “We don’t believe our players did any fixing in the third one-day match. At this stage these allegations appear unfounded.”