Time for wilting Flower to leave, for England to blossom?

When Andy Flower took the post of England head coach, he inherited a rabble.

Chock-full with ageing, injury-prone stars, being regularly bowled out for pitiful totals amidst a changing room on the brink of a civil war induced by Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen, English cricket was in a state of turmoil.

With the Ashes not so much prised away as gifted to the Australians this year, Flower’s legacy admittedly doesn’t look pretty. To the untrained eye, it would seem that Flower has returned England to their rightful place as the laughing stock of Test cricket.

So have the last four years been a waste of time? Of course not. We must not let this recent disaster cloud the fact that under Flower, England bloomed.

At the time of writing, Flower is still in charge. The noises coming out of the dressing room are not entirely encouraging for Flower’s backers, as they grow fewer in number.

He will be given the opportunity to carry on by the suits at the ECB, but to risk damaging his legacy and English cricket further, Flower should step down.

It’s difficult to assess the impact of a head coach in cricket. Decisions and results aren’t always linear in the manner of a football manager.

He will be given the opportunity to carry on, but to risk damaging his legacy, Flower should step down

That said, for better or worse, the Flower era contains three hallmarks, which have seen England go from mediocrity to the top of the world rankings and back to mediocrity again.

For English cricket, disarray is the norm, but Flower has overseen a heady, dreamy period, the likes of which English cricket is not accustomed to. History dictates that England do not go nine Test series unbeaten. The steely Zimbabwean said otherwise.

For years, England seemed reluctant participants in Twenty20 cricket. They searched for a magic and ultimately elusive ‘formula’, whilst others merely sharpened up in all disciplines.

In overseeing a victorious World T20 campaign in 2010, Flower brought England their first limited-overs silverware. There was no secret to the success. It was built upon excellent fielding and getting the best out of Kevin Pietersen. That, in itself, deserves enormous credit.

Perhaps more than anything else, attention to detail has characterised this Flower reign. Flower installed coaches, statisticians and dieticians. Remember when flavoured quinoa was the most risible element of this Ashes tour?

Innocent days indeed, but this professionalised setup will serve England for decades to come, and in that respect, Flower’s legacy will live on.

In a good light, Flower’s teams ground the opposition down. England played relentless percentage cricket, and the opposition acquiesced. In a bad light, exacerbated by Alastair Cook’s captaincy, this England team have retreated into a painfully dull and defensive mindset, which supporters are no longer buying into.

Despite their Ashes victory in the summer, England played as if they had the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Down Under, combined with Australia’s exciting, irresistible brilliance – the anti-England, if you like – that weight saw England crumble.

English cricket requires a fresh outlook. They need to thank Flower for his work, and move on. Cook has already developed a reputation as a frustratingly defensive captain, but he is young, and with a new voice in his ear, that will change. For Flower, any marked change in style seems highly unlikely.

So, what next for England? Flower will not be sacked, but he must have the humility to realise that he has taken this team as far as he can.

All signs point to Ashley Giles being given the job, and as current one-day coach, he will provide some continuity, a watchword which the ECB cling to like limpets.

When Giles was Warwickshire coach, his side were of a similar ilk to Flower’s vintage England: pile on the runs, and let the pressure do the rest.

The appointment of Giles may yet see Alastair Cook be relieved of the captaincy – a Warwickshire ‘power couple’ with Ian Bell as skipper may be a favoured option.

After an Ashes failure on this scale, there is bound to be transition at some level.

Defeats of this magnitude often signal a sea-change, and the media will doubtless call for a root-and-branch restructure of the entire set-up.

England’s head coach should leave his post safe in the knowledge that he has overseen a period of unprecedented success for English cricket. Amidst the frenzied scrum, Flower’s dedication must not go unnoticed.