Profile: Andy Flower

Zimbabwe’s greatest ever player, Andy Flower scored more runs at a better average than any of his compatriots. After excelling on the pitch, he moved to coaching and after a rapid rise, became England’s Team Director.

Flower played in Zimbabwe’s first Test Match, against India at Harare, and played for ten years scoring 12 centuries – twice as many as next on the list, his younger brother Grant – and taking 151 catches behind the stumps. Flower really established himself as one of the best batsmen in the world game from late 1999 when he scored seven centuries in 19 Tests, including two in the same match against South Africa at Harare in 2001. His Test best of 232* came against India in 2000.

Flower had two stints as Zimbabwe’s captain, the first of which saw him lead his country to its first Test victory against Pakistan in 1995 when he scored a century and Grant scored a double. During the second he led Zimbabwe on its first tour of England.

During the 2003 World Cup, Flower and his team-mate Henry Olonga wore black armbands in protest at the ‘death of democracy’ in Zimbabwe. Both retired from international cricket shortly afterwards and MCC honoured their bravery by making both Honorary Life Members.

Flower represented South Australia for the 2003-4 season and Essex from 2002 to 2006 until injury forced him to retire. He scored over 16,000 first class runs including 49 first class centuries.
Having worked with Peter Moores and the England Academy as a batting coach in the winter of 2006-7, Flower became England’s assistant coach when Moores took charge of the senior team in 2007. He became Team Director in the spring of 2009 and coached England to home Ashes success that summer. In 2010 he coached England to victory in the ICC World Twenty20 – the country’s first world cup success.