The man behind England’s transformation

By lunch time on the second day of the Edgbaston Test, the series was done and dusted. After dismissing India for very little, England toyed with the toothless dispirited Indian attack and by the end of the second day, India were 200-plus ahead with seven first innings wickets in hand.
This Test match threatens to be a rout of huge proportions.
Should England win this match as they should, they will be the number one team in Test cricket. And deservedly so! They are firing on all twelve cylinders with a turbo to boot. No team on the Test circuit has the wealth of talent that England currently possess. Their best kept secret, though, might well be coach Andy Flower.
A quiet, unassuming man who has already proved himself in the cauldron of Test play, Flower is very much a behind-the-scenes coach. He tinkers with the batsmen’s technique and could possibly be the reason why England’s tail bats so well. The tail is where a batting coach can make the biggest difference as the techniques at that end are not as finely set and therefore more disposed to correction and improvement.
The depth in England’s batting can be judged by the fact that James Anderson, the designated night watchman, bats at number 11. Surely some of the credit must go to the man at the helm of affairs, one who stays quietly in the background, letting the players take all the credit. Here’s to you Andy Flower.
India had a similar type of coach, the modest, self-effacing Gary Kirsten. Kirsten was a revelation for the Indian cricketers. He worked hard with each player, motivating, cajoling the best out of them. He would personally do throw downs and often used a tennis racquet to serve down rising balls. It was no wonder then that after the Indians won the World Cup, more than one Indian cricketer pointed to the South African as the reason for their success.
Kirsten is gone now and has been replaced by the crafty Fletcher. Much older than Kirsten, Fletcher may not have the energy to work in the nets as hard as Kirsten did. This could have had a negative effect on the Indian preparations. But certainly, a change in the management team before a crucial Test series cannot be for the good.
The knives will be out when the Indians finally drag themselves home after a long tour of the West Indies and England. Mahinder Singh Dhoni’s golden run at the helm has lost a lot of its shine. His batting as well as keeping have suffered under the unrelenting pressure imposed by the England team. But his place as the captain should not be under threat yet, simply because there is no one else in sight.
India’s vaunted middle order is also creaking. They have generally batted with application, but have been undone by some devastating bowling by the England pace attack. Tim Bresnan has all the makings of a new, improved Ian Botham. His muscular bowling extracts pace and movement when others are struggling and some of the deliveries with which he dismissed the Indian middle order have been of the highest order. Should England stay healthy over the next few years, they would definitely be the team to beat.
Back from sabbaticals: The top tennis players have finally emerged from their midyear, post-Wimbledon sabbaticals, at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Rafael Nadal promptly lost in the first round to the rising Ivan Dodig while Roger Federer lost a Wimbledon rematch to Jo Wilifred Tsonga. But the most dramatic result was the loss of Andy Murray to the tall, big serving South African Kevin Anderson.
Murray has lost confidence in his game and is desperately searching for a playing style that could enable him to win a major event. The results are not encouraging. Murray has a second serve that sits up, allowing his opponents to hit an aggressive first shot. He is then struggling on an even keel on his own serve while his opponents hold serve much more easily. Murray is also a below average volleyer and his movements at the net are not those of a Rafter or Edberg. He is much more laboured and looks like he does not belong there. His ground strokes and first serve are good enough to beat all but the top players, but he will find Djokovic, Nadal and even a fading Federer too much to handle. There are also a group of strong rising players who will fancy their chances against him. It is time for Andy Murray to get his support group together and call an emergency meeting. The portents are not too good.
The Indo-Pak Express, Pakistan’s Aisam Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna of India have gotten untracked from their losing streak by beating Paul Hanley and Bruno Soares in the round of sixteen. They now have a mountain to climb, facing the Bryan brothers in the quarters. The duo had a quiet summer, losing early in most of the events. There was talk that the relationship was souring, that the partnership had run its course. This is not unusual on the doubles circuit, with players mixing and matching quite freely. It remains to be seen how they do in the run up to the US Open. The match against the Bryans will be an indicator of where they stand.
But to the educated eye, there are signs that the boys’ skills are fraying at the edges. Or perhaps, the opposition has figured out how to play against them. Let’s hope that this exciting pairing can continue for a couple more years and that the elusive major title can finally fall into their grasp.