England coach Andy Flower disappointed to be part of tainted series
England’s coach Andy Flower has said that it is disappointing to be a part of a series which has been so badly tainted by allegations of spot-fixing and match-fixing. Flower also added that the entire series was “devalued” by the match-fixing scandal.
Flower was speaking to the media after it was revealed by the International Cricket Council that they were launching a probe into certain scoring patterns during the Pakistani innings in the third ODI at Oval against England. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 had gone on to win the
match by 23 runs, and Umar Gul had been the star of the game with a six-wicket haul.
Currently, the tour will go on as scheduled with the remaining two ODIs to be played at Lord’s, and the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rose-c86842 Bowl will continue to be played. This follows the emergency meeting that the English cricket board called for after the third ODI concluded.
Flower said the allegations were sad from the perspective of the sport. He did acknowledge that from their own perspective, it made them angry because it devalued both, the Tests and the ODIs. Flower said, “Looking at it from the game's point of view, which
is what we should all do, it's very sad for cricket and the only thing I do hope is that they are able to get to the bottom of some of this stuff.”
And it was not only the cricket that was suffering according to Flower. The coach said that the relations between the players of the two sides were getting strained as well. Flower refused to comment on specifics but did say that it was natural for such an
incident to “affect relationship between the sides, in general terms.”
The one issue that would be a natural offspring from the match-fixing controversy was the loss of focus from the task on hand. England lead the series 2-1 and will want to finish off the series at Lord’s with a win. Flower admitted as much, but added, “There
is only one way that we should be approaching it and that is focusing on doing our job as well as we can because there is little good to be gained from us doing anything else.”
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