Flower Power used for moan-a-thon

Owzat

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Coach Andy Flower bemoans England schedule

England coach Andy Flower has bemoaned the length of his side's Australia tour and wants to have more input into the team's schedule in the future.

England have been decimated by injuries at the end of a three-and-a-half month tour of Australia, culminating in the seventh one-dayer in Perth on Sunday.

"Without a doubt the length of the tour is a reason for the injuries," he said.

"It would be quite sensible to look at how these tours are set up. Ideally the coach's thoughts should be sought."

On Thursday, Paul Collingwood became the fifth England player to fly home after suffering a back spasm during the sixth one-day international in Sydney on Wednesday.

Ajmal Shahzad (hamstring), Chris Tremlett (side), Graeme Swann (knee/back) and Tim Bresnan (calf) were earlier casualties of the tour.

That leaves Flower with a depleted squad to choose from ahead of Sunday's match, which carries little significance with Australia already leading the series 5-1.

"We've been here over three months now and with the intensity at which the guys play their cricket, and with the intensity that we demand in training it is no surprise that people will pick up injuries and break down at the end of a long, hard tour," added Flower.

The length of the one-day series has left England with just a three-day turnaround before they fly to the sub-continent on 12 February for the World Cup.

Asked how much input the coaching team have in the itinerary, Flower stated: "Very little say. Ideally the coach's thoughts should be sought, but in most instances these fixture lists and itineraries are in place way before any information is sought from the coach.

"It would be quite sensible to look at how these tours are set up, especially this close to a World Cup, however, these are the schedules that we are given and we will deal with them as well as we can.

"It is our job to be at our peak as close to the start of the World Cup as possible. That's what we'll be aiming for."

Flower is taking heart from England's batting display in Sydney, when they posted 333-6 - their record score against Australia.

And although Australia stunned the tourists by chasing down the runs, Flower was happy with the resolve of his injury-ravaged side.

"I thought our guys fought incredibly hard in that last game in the heat in Sydney," he added.

"It was a great game of cricket. There were some sore bodies out there; people limping on and off the field, but they gave everything they had in defending that 333.

"Unfortunately we didn't win that game but we will be doing the same here in Perth - going to win it."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/9387335.stm

On the one hand SEVEN ODIs ahead of a World Cup is stupid, on the other hand perhaps Flower Power and the SELECTORS are as much to blame for having the same players in the ODI squad as played in the five Test series :rolleyes

ENGLAND TOUR PLAYERS USED

STRAUSS - Tests 5, ODIs 6
Cook - Tests 5
TROTT - Tests 5, ODIs 6
PIETERSEN - Tests 5, ODIs 5
BELL - Tests 5, ODIs 6
COLLINGWOOD - Tests 5, ODIs 4
Morgan - ODIs 6
PRIOR - Tests 5, ODIs 5
Davies - ODIs 1
Yardy - ODIs 5
Wright - ODIs 1
Tredwell - ODIs 1
Woakes - ODIs 3
Shahzad - ODIs 5
TREMLETT - Tests 3, ODIs 4
BRESNAN - Tests 2, ODIs 2
SWANN - Tests 5, ODIs 1
ANDERSON - Tests 5, ODIs 3
FINN - Tests 3, ODIs 2
Broad - Tests 2

ELEVEN of the 18 players used in the ODIs so far were among the 13 Test players used during the Ashes proper.

Of the 66 places filled during the six match series, 44 were filled by players who played the Test series. Is it any great surprise there will be injuries when using the same players?!?!?!? Does Flower Power really think (full stop, and) that they can keep using the same players for Tests and ODIs all year round without it taking its toll?!?!?!? :facepalm

By comparison the aussies used only eight of their 16 ODI players during the Tests, although that is still pretty high (50%) and they're not bemoaning the schedule!

Maybe England should just rethink their selection policies and utilise the squad a bit better. In fact there have been chances to rest players that just don't get taken, England have gone "too far the other way" in terms of continuous selection, they used to chop and change and now they relentlessly pick the same players - until injury in some cases. England won't win the World Cup no matter what Robert "The Don" Key says about our squad being the most balanced :noway :facepalm :lol Having a nothing middle order and our supposed best bowler getting tonked for 91 off 10 overs with the top order susceptible to collapses, how is that "balanced" ? Or perhaps he's worked out that the players 1-5 weigh the same as those 7-11 and he's just not letting on...............
 

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