Andy Flower, Zimbabwe's finest batter, became a title-winning coach abroad
For three months in late 2001, the best-ranked Test batsman in the world played for Zimbabwe. Andy Flower kept wicket for his country for over a decade, averaged above 51 in Tests, and later coached England to three Ashes wins and Royal Challengers Bengaluru to back-to-back IPL titles.
Flower was born in Cape Town on 28 April 1968 and played much of his cricket alongside his younger brother Grant. His international debut, a one-day game against Sri Lanka at New Plymouth in the 1992 World Cup, brought a century, making him the first player to reach three figures on ODI debut in a World Cup match. His second ODI hundred took until his 150th game, another record. Against India in 2000–01 he piled up 550 runs across four innings while being dismissed only twice, and his unbeaten 232 remains the highest Test innings by a wicketkeeper.
Over 63 Tests he made 4,794 runs, and in 213 ODIs he scored 6,786. He holds Zimbabwe's records for most Test runs, best Test average and most ODI runs, and he is the only wicketkeeper to average 50 in Tests. His 341 across two innings against South Africa in 2001 ranks second on any losing side.
During the 2003 World Cup, he and teammate Henry Olonga wore black armbands to mourn what they called the death of democracy in Zimbabwe. Government pressure followed, and Flower left both Zimbabwean cricket and the country, later playing for Essex and South Australia.
England hired him as assistant coach in May 2007 and made him team director in April 2009. Under him they won the Ashes that summer, took the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in 2010, triumphed in Australia that winter and again at home in 2013, and reached number one in the Test rankings in August 2011. A 5–0 defeat in 2013–14 ended his five-year stint. In 2021 he became the first Zimbabwean in the ICC Hall of Fame, and from 2023 he coached Bengaluru to its first IPL crowns in 2025 and 2026.
Source: Andy Flower
