KOLKATA: Over the past couple of months, athletes have used sport as a platform to highlight racism and other forms of injustice, giving voice to the Black-Lives-Matter campaign following the death of George Floyd.
Seventeen years ago, Zimbabwe’s most successful player Andy Flower joined hands with his country’s first black cricketer Henry Olonga to take a bold stand against President Robert Mugabe’s regime with a black-armbands-protest during the 2003 World Cup.
Flower is now busy in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League as St Lucia Zouks’ head coach before joining Anil Kumble’s Kings XI Punjab as his assistant in the upcoming IPL.
The 52-year-old spoke at length about that bold stand, cricket in the time of pandemic and more in an e-mail interview with TOI.
ON CRICKET WITHOUT SPECTATORS AND IN PANDEMIC
Yes, it’s a strange experience, especially in the Caribbean where the crowd is loud and they have parties in the stands and emits really a vibrant spirit. So without all this, the game is different. But I don’t think the Covid-19 restrictions have not taken free spirit away from the game. The series in England between England and West Indies and later England and Pakistan have showcased that the commitment of players and standard of the game have been of really good quality. The CPL is the first franchise tournament that is played during the pandemic and the high-profile IPL is coming up. Some people may also find it difficult to deal with the isolation and I believe as coaches, we need to focus on their mental aspects, and through our experiences, help and guide them to fulfil their expectations. Credit to the organisers and players for bringing cricket back on track.
ON JOINING WITH KUMBLE AND KXIP’S CHANCES IN THE IPL
I know that Anil is an intelligent man full of integrity and that he will be hungry not only as a leader but for our group to fulfil our potential.
And if we get anywhere near fulfilling our potential we can get into the playoffs. We have quite a big squad out there so we have a plenty of opportunities to get to know these young guys and help them realize their dream.
ON SUCCESSES AS ENGLAND’S COACH
One thing I have learned over the years after making many mistakes as a captain, and also making many mistakes as a coach of England that, if your intent is to serve your group, you are in a much healthier position to be a leader.
Sometimes as a younger leader I made some obvious mistakes, not recognizing and understanding the need of serving the group.
This is a fundamental tenet of leadership. It’s nice getting recognition as a leader and I am very proud of three Ashes triumphs as well as winning the World T20. And I am also proud of the fact that many young people grew as skillful cricketers during my time with the English team. But it is just not the wins or tournament triumphs that you are proud of. There are hundreds of smaller things that people don’t know about, that I’m proud of as well.
ON BLACK-ARMBANDS-PROTEST DURING THE 2003 WORLD CUP
We have long known about the power of sports people making stands. The American stand at the Berlin Olympics is a very obvious and famous example. The sporting sanctions against South Africa was a very powerful message to the South Africans that they could not get away against those injustices perpetrated in their country (during the Apartheid). Henry and I tried to draw the world’s attention to the human rights abuses that were happening in Zimbabwe at that time. It was an opportunity we could not quite grasp. Sports people are lucky enough to have a platform which can be used to make powerful statements. I think it’s time we brought an end to racism in many parts of the world.
ON CRICKETING CAREER
Even during my time (as a player) and even today, I still love listening to the debates about who is the greatest batsman: Sachin or Lara. But as a flag-bearer of cricket in our small country I was lucky enough to get exposure and compete against the best around the world. But those were early days as a team as we were fighting to justify the Test status that was given to us. That provided most of our motivation in that we were fighting for Zimbabwe as a cricketing name. Was my career under-appreciated? Honestly, I haven’t thought about that. Would I be more successful had I played now? I would love to play T20 cricket, definitely.
ON EVOLUTION OF CRICKET SINCE HIS RETIREMENT
I started playing a bit of T20 for Essex before I retired and, to be honest, I had found it a bit gimmicky. I didn't have the vision to see what it would become in future. Obviously T20 has taken off and even T10 cricket is being played now. I was involved in a T10 meet in Abu Dhabi last year and I loved it. I think it may give cricket a chance to represent in the Commonwealth or Olympic Games.
https://m.timesofindia.com/sports/c...ism-says-andy-flower/articleshow/77964375.cms
too many England related threads. 
