Andy Flower praises England
England Coach, Andy Flower has praised his team’s performance, in the first Ashes Test. The first Ashes test was an eventful one as it had all the ingredients of a perfect Test match. It involved a hat-trick by Peter Siddle, a brilliant century by Michael Hussey, 6 wicket haul by the youngster Steven Finn and a double ton, by Alastair Cook. It was a game filled with exciting moments and one feels a draw should not have been the end result of such an entertaining match. For England, it is a great achievement to save the Test match, from a situation where they had to cover a 220 runs deficit. For Australia, there are certain issues that need to be addressed, as they were not able to dismiss the English batsmen in the last two days. But overall it was a major fight back from the English batsmen in the last two days of the Test match, as they were able to recover confidently from a dangerous situation and give a strong answer to Australia’s bowling, in the second innings. It was an equal contest, where both sides had their moments.
At one point, it seemed Australia would manage a victory in the test match, but the fight-back shown by the English batsmen, really destroyed the Aussie hopes of an early advantage in the series. England Coach, Andy Flower was quite pleased with the character shown by the English cricketers, being out-played by the Australians, in first three days of the Test match. Andy Flower lauded his team’s performance by saying,
“The way they fought back in the Test match was outstanding. England was dismissed for 260 in the first innings and when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 took a vital lead of 220 runs, it seemed England would find it difficult to save the first Test match. But the way they fought, gave a serious message to the Aussies that England is in no mood of compromising, during the Ashes series.
Andy Flower further praised his top three English batsmen, who showed a remarkable character in fighting their way out of a deficit. Strauss, Cook and Trott made centuries in their second innings and were able to take England into a safe position, in the first test match. Cook was the most prominent of the three batsmen as he was able to score a double century (235*) in the second innings.
Andy Flower believed and stated,
“It’s good for England, to come out from the tense situation and to be able to manage a draw, in the end. When England covered the deficit in their second innings, they were in a position to give a lead to the Aussies. They gave Australia a target of 297, but most importantly they managed to gain a lot of confidence for the rest of the series. The way they batted in the second innings gave an opportunity to England, to apply some pressure on Australia, on the last day."
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