Champions England still have a long way to go, warns Flower
COACH Andy Flower last night warned his jubilant England troops not to get carried away with their World Twenty20 success, insisting they still have plenty of room for improvement.
Flower’s England claimed a first-ever global tournament victory in Barbados on Sunday after sealing a seven-wicket final triumph over Australia.
It has signalled the dawn of an exciting new era in English cricket with short-format specialists such as Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb bursting onto the world stage.
Under Flower’s direction, England have regained the Ashes, drawn a Test series in South Africa, and now broken their duck in major international events. But the no-nonsense Zimbabwean refuses to get carried away, insisting there is a much to do in their overall development.
“I think there is a long way for us to go. This is one form of the game. But if we talk about the England team we talk about all three forms of the game,” Flower said. “We have got huge scope for improvement in various areas. We will be working hard to get better and better all the time.”
Flower is now assessing how to build on the Twenty20 success and impose an Australian-style domination on the game.
“This is only one tournament we have dominated,” he added. “We would like to take some of the things we have learned in this and implement them in our 50-over game.
“I think one of the greatest things we will get out of this is growth in our self-belief.”