Warne backs Flower to succeed
Shane Warne impressed by Andy Flower
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Thursday, 16, Apr 2009 09:54
Shane Warne feels England have "taken a step in the right direction" in the appointment of Andy Flower as team director.
The appointment of Flower came as a bit of a surprise as he was one of the members of the Peter Moores camp and it was thought he would eventually also follow Moores out of the England setup once a new coach had been appointed.
But the Zimbabwean has been given the biggest job in English cricket after taking temporary charge of the side in the West Indies and Warne believes Flower will do a good job in the new role.
The Australian legend had many battles with Flower as a player and admitted the former number one batsman in the world is a man he respected.
"England have taken a step in the right direction by appointing Andy Flower, and I think the new job title as team director is the right one," Warne wrote in his column in the Times.
"Flower is a quality individual who earned the respect of everybody in the game with the way he played and for what he did off the field. I think he will be a big calming influence in the dressing-room. He is one of those people who will be hard, but very fair.
"And being quite young, an Essex player until recently, means he is in tune with the modern game. He has all the qualities for the role."
Flower has very little time to get the team into top shape for the Ashes series against Warne's Australia.
The 40-year-old has two Tests against the West Indies and the World Twenty/20 championships, before he faces arguably the biggest test as team director when he plots the downfall of Australia.