Andy Flower

Andy Flower

Personal information
Full name	Andrew Flower
Born	(1968-04-28) 28 April 1968 Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Nickname	Petals; Flower Power (along with brother Grant)
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Right-arm off break
Role	Wicket-keeper, Coach
International information
National side	Zimbabwe (1992-2003)
Test debut (cap 6)	18 October 1992 v India
Last Test	16 November 2002 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 20)	23 February 1992 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI	15 March 2003 v Sri Lanka
ODI shirt no.	33
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2002–2006	Essex
1996–2005	MCC
2003/04	South Australia
1993/94-2002/03	Mashonaland
Career statistics
Competition Test ODIs FC LA Matches 63 213 223 380 Runs scored 4794 6786 16379 12511 Batting average 51.54 35.34 54.05 38.97 100s/50s 12/27 4/55 49/75 12/97 Top score 232* 145 271* 145 Balls bowled 3 30 629 132 Wickets – – 7 1 Bowling average – – 38.57 103.00 5 wickets in innings – – 0 0 10 wickets in match – – 0 0 Best bowling – – 1/1 1/21 Catches/stumpings 151/9 141/32 361/21 254/48
Source: Cricinfo, 13 November 2007

Andrew "Andy" Flower OBE (born 28 April 1968) is a former international cricketer and a former captain for Zimbabwe. He was a former England cricket coach as well.

Playing career

Flower was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and starting from his high school days at Oriel Boys' High School and Vainona High School played most of his career alongside his younger brother Grant Flower. He is considered to be one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen, alongside players such as Australian Adam Gilchrist. Flower made his international debut in a One Day International against Sri Lanka at New Plymouth, New Zealand, in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. He was Zimbabwe's wicket-keeper for more than 10 years and statistically by far the finest batsman the country has fielded. A good player of spin, he made 550 runs in a Test series against India in 2000/01. This tally came in just four innings and he was only dismissed twice. He is one of the few players to score a century on ODI debut.

Towards the end of his career, Flower achieved international recognition when he and teammate Henry Olonga wore black armbands during the 2003 Cricket World Cup match against Namibia to protest against Robert Mugabe's policies. He and Olonga released a statement on 10 February, stating in part:

In all the circumstances, we have decided that we will each wear a black armband for the duration of the World Cup. In doing so we are mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe. In doing so we are making a silent plea to those responsible to stop the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. In doing so, we pray that our small action may restore sanity and dignity to our Nation.

Andy Flower's career performance graph.

This act led to pressure from Zimbabwe's government and Flower's retirement from Zimbabwean cricket. He later played an English county cricket season for Essex and an Australian domestic season for South Australia.

Flower played 63 Test matches for Zimbabwe, scoring 4,794 runs at an average of 51.54 and taking 151 catches and 9 stumpings, and 213 One Day Internationals, scoring 6,786 runs at an average of 35.34 and taking 141 catches and 32 stumpings. He holds the Zimbabwean records for the most Test career runs, the highest Test batting average, and most ODI career runs. He is the only Zimbabwean in the ICC's Top 100 All-time Test Batting rankings at number 31 (November 2013), putting him in the company of Brian Lara (ranked 23), Sachin Tendulkar (29), Steve Waugh (equal 31 with Flower on 895 points) and Rahul Dravid (33).

His aggregate score of 341 in the first Test against South Africa in 2001 is the second highest ever by a batsman on the losing side.

Andy Flower is also the only player to score an ODI hundred on debut in a world cup match He's also having the record for the most number of matches(149) to score his second ODI ton after scoring a century on debut, when he did it in only in his 150th ODI.

He's also having the record for the highest ever test score posted by a wicketkeeper batsman in an innings of a test(232*).

Coaching career

On 7 May 2007, Flower was appointed Assistant Coach of the England team, replacing Matthew Maynard. The Zimbabwean joined up with Peter Moores and the rest of the squad for the first Test match against the West Indies at Lord's on 17 May 2007. Upon his appointment to this role with the ECB, Flower, having not played that season due to injury, ended his playing spell at Essex, bringing his playing career to a close.

On 15 April 2009, following England's Caribbean tour, for which he was installed as interim team director following the departure of Peter Moores, he was appointed full-time team director. In the Summer of 2009, during his tenure as team director, England won The Ashes, beating Australia by two Test matches to one. In May 2010, they won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies. In November–January 2010/2011 England won the Ashes in Australia by three Test matches to one.

Flower was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to sport.

On 13 August 2011 Flower led the England cricket team to become the number one ranked team in terms of test playing countries. On 22 December 2011, he was awarded the 2011 Coach of the Year in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

He also successfully led England to Ashes victory in July–August 2013 winning the test series 3–0.

A major blip in his coaching career was the 5–0 drubbing by Australia in November–January 2013 – 2014 Ashes series. On 31 January 2014, Flower stepped down as head coach, a position he had held for five years. From March 2014, he continued his employment with the England and Wales Cricket Board as its 'Technical Director of Elite Coaching', a role that has involved mentoring English county coaches and looking at best practice in coaching and performance in other organisations. Since July 2014, this role has also encompassed him being head coach of the England Lions team, most recently leading the side on an ODI tour of the UAE in January 2016.

Pakistan Super League

In 2016 He is appointed as Batting Coach Of Peshawar Zalmi.

Charity

In September 2007, Flower became an Ambassador for the children's charity, Hope for Children, and has assisted in raising thousands of pounds for needy children in Zimbabwe and around the world. In July 2011, Flower became an Ambassador for the malignant melanoma support group, Factor 50, having suffered from the illness himself. He underwent surgery to remove a melanoma from his right eye in 2010. In the summer of 2012 Andy agreed to undertake another term as Ambassador to Factor 50. Having run the marathon in April 2012 Andy said “It wasn’t a hard decision for me to continue in my role as Ambassador to Factor 50. They do an excellent job in patient support, fund raising and raising awareness of the dangers of the sun. I wish them continued success in the coming year and who knows, another marathon might be on the cards!”

International cricket centuries

Test centuries

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

Test centuries of Andy Flower
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Start date	Result
[1]	115	4	India	New Delhi, India	Feroz Shah Kotla	16 March 1993	Lost
[2]	156	11	Pakistan	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	31 January 1995	Won
[3]	112	21	England	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Queens Sports Club	19 December 1996	Drawn
[4]	105*	26	Sri Lanka	Colombo, Sri Lanka	SSC Ground	17 January 1998	Lost
[5]	100*	29	Pakistan	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Queens Sports Club	17 March 1998	Drawn
[6]	129	38	Sri Lanka	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	29 November 1999	Drawn
[7]	113*	40	West Indies	Port of Spain, Trinidad	Queen's Park Oval	18 March 2000	Lost
[8]	183*	46	India	Delhi, India	Feroz Shah Kotla	19 November 2000	Lost
[9]	232*	47	India	Nagpur, India	VCA Stadium	29 November 2000	Drawn
[10]	142	53	South Africa	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	9 September 2001	Lost
[11]	199*	53	South Africa	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	10 September 2001	Lost
[12]	114*	56	Bangladesh	Chittagong, Bangladesh	MA Aziz Stadium	15 November 2001	Won

One Day International centuries

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

One Day International centuries of Andy Flower
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Date	Result
[1]	115*	1	Sri Lanka	New Plymouth, New Zealand	Pukekura Park	23 February 1992	Lost
[2]	120*	150	Sri Lanka	Sharjah, UAE	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	21 October 2000	Lost
[3]	142*	178	England	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	7 October 2001	Lost
[4]	145	196	India	Colombo, Sri Lanka	R Premadasa Stadium	14 September 2002	Lost

International Awards

One-Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

S No	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	Sri Lanka	Pukekura Park, New Plymouth	23 February 1992	115* (152 balls, 8x4, 1x6) ; WK 1 Ct.	Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets.
2	Pakistan	Harare Sports Club, Harare	26 February 1995	73 (104 balls, 3x4) ; WK 2 Ct. 1 St.	Zimbabwe won by 74 runs.
3	New Zealand	McLean Park, Napier	3 February 1996	57 (67 balls, 5x4) ; WK 2 Ct.	Zimbabwe won by 21 runs.
4	Kenya	Aga Khan Sports Club Ground, Nairobi	16 October 1997	WK 2 Ct. 1 St. ; 66 (86 balls, 8x4)	Zimbabwe won by 7 wickets.
5	Kenya	Gymkhana Club Ground, Nairobi	18 October 1997	79 (90 balls, 10x4) ; WK 1 Ct. 1 St.	Zimbabwe won by 83 runs.

Player of the series awards

#	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	1887 President's Cup	1997/98	375 runs: 5x50. avg. 62.50 SR 86.00 (6 Matches)	Zimbabwe Won the series.

External links

• Statement of Andrew Flower and Henry Olonga
• Hope for Children
• Factor 50