Flower confident of England comeback
Andy Flower on Friday expressed his confidence in England staging a
swift comeback against Pakistan after losing the first Test by ten
wickets inside three days.
England crumbled to 160 all out in their second knock on Thursday to
go 1-0 down in the three-match series — their first Test as world number
one, a position they attained in August last year following a 4-0 rout
of India.
Flower, who was named UK coach of the year in 2011, said beating
Australia in Australia was a bigger test, but coming back in the second
Test will also be a big task.
“Pakistan certainly outplayed us by a long margin in this Test. We
underperformed, poorly. However, we can come back from this. Is it a
real test? Yes it will be,” the 43-year-old England coach told
reporters.
“Beating Australa in Australia was a big test. This team has done
great things in the recent past, but you have to move on from the past
and live in the present, and this is a very good indication that you
have to live in the present,” said Flower.
England have not lost a series since losing to the West Indies in
2009 - Flower’s first after he took over from Peter Moores.
Flower disagreed that England - playing their first Test since August
last year - were under-prepared or lacked application.
“I don’t think it’s either of those. Our preparation were excellent,”
said Flower of the two wins inside games here. “It might be fair to say
that the lay-off we’ve had probably means people aren’t quite up to
speed as we usually are. AFP |