Flower had to go

The resignation of England Team Director Andy Flower in the wake of his side’s disastrous tour of Australia has been widely accepted by the English media as a necessary start to the rebuilding of the national team.

Flower stepped down from the head coaching role on Friday after meeting with the new managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Paul Downton, who has been conducting a review of the tour that saw the visitors trounced in every format of the game.

While Flower is negotiating a new role within the ECB, most commentators said that, while his achievements should not be overlooked, it was time for new ideas in the coaching set up.

Sir Ian Botham, writing in his column for the Daily Mirror, said the enjoyment of playing the game seemed to have evaporated from the England squad under Flower.

“The siege mentality operated by England has been sad to see in recent times,” wrote Botham. “They have had a lot to be happy about before this winter but you wouldn’t know they were enjoying themselves.

“I’d like to see them get some enjoyment back in their cricket, and start playing the game in a more flamboyant style,” Botham said. “The game is about winning and entertaining and for a while I’ve been looking for more aggression and positivity about England’s cricket.”

The Daily Mail’s Martin Samuel wrote that Flower’s demise was inevitable and perhaps overdue given the magnitude of England’s crushing five-nil Ashes defeat at the hands of a better-prepared Australia, followed by further humiliation in the limited-overs series.

“Nobody doubts that Flower is a fine coach,” Samuels wrote. “He may even pass this way again. Removed from front-line duties, he may return refreshed at some later date.

“Yet right here, right now, Flower is an idea whose time has gone,” he said. “England need fixing and nothing that occurred in Australia this winter suggests he is the man for that job. 

“Fresh perspective is required, and fresh ideas. 

“There are some results that cannot be overcome with blind faith in a decent man: Australia 11 England 1, among them.”

Writing for The Telegraph, Derek Pringle described Flower as a “control freak”, whose coaching style was not received well by the entire playing group.

"When motivating himself, Flower’s methods served him well,” claimed Pringle. “But when they needed to be more widely accepted in a team environment not everyone responded to his grim focus on data and empirical analysis.

“His need to micro-manage also had something of the control freak about it, while his response to defeat was to ramp up the work ethic and seriousness quotient, which might explain why when England lose they lose badly, like 3-0 to Pakistan in 2012 and 5-0 to Australia last month,” Pringle said.

But most commentators were keen to point out the success England has enjoyed since Flower took on the head coaching role in 2009, including three Ashes Series wins, the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup, and England’s ascendancy to top the world Test rankings in 2011.

Jonathan Agnew, writing for bbc.com, said Flower’s achievements should not be forgotten in the wake of an unhappy Australian summer.

“Although Flower departs after a disastrous tour, it should not be forgotten that he is a very fine coach and a man who has been brilliant for English cricket,” wrote Agnew. “Fans of a certain age will never have known a successful England team, yet for five years the Flower era was one of consistent achievement.”

But while many saw the writing on the wall, former England captain Nassar Hussein claimed to be completely shocked by Flower’s resignation.

“If somebody had told me at the end of last summer that Andy Flower would not be England coach at the start of February I would have laughed in their face,” Hussein wrote in the Daily Mail. “But this is what an Ashes defeat can do and England's decline has been rapid.

“Duncan Fletcher's spell as coach came to an end soon after a 5-0 Ashes defeat and now it has happened to Flower. 

“I am hugely surprised and a little stunned. 

“There had been no suggestion of this happening.”

There is widespread speculation on the future of Kevin Pietersen and the guessing game has begun over who will be the man to oversee the rebuilding of the England squad, with many suggesting the current coach of the limited-overs squads, Ashley Giles, is the frontrunner. 

But The Independent’s Stephen Brenkley questioned Giles’ credentials after England’s dismal performance in last night’s KFC T20 International at the MCG.

“The easy option would be for Downton, who does not officially start until Monday, to appoint Ashley Giles as Flower’s successor,” wrote Brenkley. “Giles has an early chance to impress in the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in March but he has had almost as wretched a time of it in Australia as Flower, losing both the one-day international and Twenty20 series.

“Their capitulation by eight wickets yesterday with 5.1 of the 20 overs still left at Australia’s disposal was as embarrassing as anything they have suffered all winter.”