"What's he doing working for Australia?" - Stuart Broad on Andy Flower joining England's arch-rivals for WTC final and Ashes
Veteran England seamer Stuart Broad has questioned Andy Flower's allegiance to Australia ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final and 2023 Ashes. The Nottinghamshire seamer hopes the former Zimbabwe cricketer doesn't spill the beans on England.
Flower, who has joined Australia's backroom staff, England's head coach when they won the Ashes in Australia in the 2010-11 leg and helped them clinch the number one Test ranking in 2011.
Under him, the Englishmen went on to lift the T20 World Cup in 2010. The 55-year-old is also associated with the Lucknow Super Giants as their head coach.
Happy Birthday Andy Flower!
With you as England coach we achieved a lot!! https://t.co/VJLQAtBcMU
Speaking to PA News Agency, Broad reflected that Flower's motivation helped him to stand up to the battles of Test cricket and that winning Ashes under him was memorable.
"What's he doing working for Australia? I didn't know that. Andy is someone I learned a lot from early on in my career, he taught me a lot about how to stand up to the battle of Test match cricket."
Broad added:
"I really enjoyed working under him and winning Ashes series under him. He did a lot for English cricket in his time with Andrew Strauss as captain. Hopefully he doesn't give away too many secrets!"
However, Flower didn't have the desired ending to his coaching tenure with England as he left the post after England's 5-0 loss Down Under in the 2013-14 Ashes series.
"Sakesy knows a lot about the Aussie guys" - Stuart Broad
Broad also hopes to draw cues from any knowledge about Australia that England bowling coach David Saker can offer. He added:
"Sakesy knows a lot about the Aussie guys, he has a lot of respect the Australia players, but we've got players in our changing room who know more than the coaches with the amount we've played against them - Stokesy, Rooty, Jimmy Anderson and myself to name a few. There's enough detail out there for everyone to know what's going on."
| #EnglandCricketSummer 2023 is going to be HUGE 🏏
🏴 #ENGvAUS 🇦🇺 | #EnglandCricket
The 36-year-old had a brilliant start to the summer, taking a fifer in the first innings of the one-off Test against Ireland. England started their summer with a ten-wicket victory.