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England was in Australia for little over three months. They won one game and Australia outplayed them in pretty much every single one of the games they played – you’d expect morale to be pretty low, right?
Not so says T20 skipper Stuart Broad, who was busy preparing for England’s final game of on Australian shores, which Australia went on to comfortably win.
“If I’ve got through this tour OK and I feel like it hasn’t harmed my personal experience, I can pretty much get through anything,” said Broad
We’ve had meetings and, coming into training, the guys were really confident. There’s a lot of excitement around this group and, as we know in T20 cricket, if you do have confidence and you do enjoy your cricket, you play pretty well, so that’s our plan.”
He added that the likes of Luke Wright, Michael Lumb and Alex Hales have been performing well in Australia’s Big Bash League.
“Their confidence is high and they’ve brought a lot of confidence into the group,” said Broad. “There’s a real nice buzz around the changing room.”
Having departed Australian shores only hours after the completion of last night’s T20, there will be little respite for England as they head home to prepare for a limited-overs tour of the West Indies starting on 28 February.
Not only will they be without regular captain, Alastair Cook, coach Andy Flower will also be missing after he stood down from the position following the Ashes whitewash.
Announced last Friday, Flower had all but lost the desire to take England through their next phase.
“Following the recent very disappointing Ashes defeat it is clear to me that this is now time for England cricket, led by (captain) Alastair Cook, to rebuild… I do not feel like I am in a position to undertake that challenge.”
Where to now for England?
First and foremost England must now end the experiment of having separate technical directors for different formats.
Former England finger spinner and current one day and T20 coach Ashley Giles is seemingly the favoured candidate among many pundits to take on the challenge of leading England Test cricket back to the top and this decision would only make sense considering his role in the sorter formats.
Ex-South Africa and India coach Gary Kirsten is thought to be another candidate for the job. A decision is expected within two weeks.
For any cricket team, it’s about winning and I am a strong believer in having one voice leading the charge forward. Having a coach change mid series depending on a format can only be disruptive.
It’s important to have the same culture whatever the format of cricket being played. This will ensure complete clarity and continuity across the squads.
Flower, who led England to three Ashes wins, the World Twenty20 in 2010 as well as overseeing their first series win in India since 1984 believes the next coach should be given control over all three England sides, a position Flower held before handing over responsibility for the one-day and Twenty20 sides in November 2012.
In order for England cricket to make significant progress, the team director, together with the respective captains, need to be responsible across all formats in order to positively influence the rebuilding process.
Despite ending his career as England’s technical director on the low of losing the Ashes, it must be the way England played their cricket that will forever haunt the former Zimbabwean captain.
In saying that, Flower has been the most successful coach in England’s history and the ECB must be bitterly disappointed to see him leave.
While staying on a team director for the “time being,” it’s clear Flower’s role within the England setup is all but over.
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