Zimbabwe batsman Grant Flower spoke out here on Wednesday in support of his
brother Andy’s controversial World Cup protest.
During Zimbabwe’s opening match in February, against Namibia in Harare, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga wore black armbands and issued a statement mourning the ‘death of democracy’ in Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe.
Flower said the only reason he had not joined the duo was because he was worried about lessening the impact of their protest.
”I agreed with what they did,” he said.
”To be honest I wanted to join them.
”But I thought it would be a better and a bigger statement if it was just the two of them, one white person and one black person.â€
”It wasn’t a matter of colour, it was a question of right and wrong,” explained Flower, saying he had spoken to, but not yet seen, his brother.
He added that he thought their protest was a ‘good thing†ahead of Zimbabwe’s tour match against Worcestershire starting here at New Road on Friday.
Anti-Mugabe protestors, who want the tour stopped, were at Lord’s for last week’s opening media conference, but Flower said the squad was relaxed about their threats of further demonstrations.
He commented: ”I don’t think anyone’s under stress. You’ve got to be open-minded. People have views. That’s fine.”
This trip has been given added spice by England’s boycott of their World Cup match in Harare.
”It would have been nice to have played England but we enjoyed the points. But ideally it would have been better to have played them,” Flower said.
Andy Flower retired from international cricket after the World Cup and is now playing for English county Essex while Olonga is also in England, playing for a club side having narrowly escaped arrest by the Zimbabwe security services in South Africa.
The Flowers’ parents also live in England, as do Andy’s wife and children.
Grant admitted it was odd no longer having Andy, a cornerstone of the team since Zimbabwe’s admission to Test cricket in 1992, in the side, but denied feeling lonely.
”It’s different but I wouldn’t say I feel isolated,” the top order batsman and left-arm spinner insisted.
”Zimbabwe is still a great place to live in even though we’re having tough times.”
He also maintained that his relationship with his brother had in no way been damaged by any fall-out from Andy’s protest.
”We get on very well. We are very competitive but we helped with each other’s games.”
Flower is the only player in the current squad with a Test hundred to his name and, at 32, is one of Zimbabwe’s cricket elders with 3 359 Test runs at 30,26 from 63 matches.
But it is Andy, who averaged over fifty in Tests, who shines as Zimbabwe’s single world-class player; Grant said it was important the rest of the team adjusted quickly to life without him.
”We probably over-relied on him. We’d always thought he’d do it. Now it’s up to the other guys to step up to the plate.”
Many pundits have already written off Zimbabwe’s chances in the two Test series, which start at Lord’s on May 22, but Flower said such talk could work in his team’s favour.
”If everyone is expecting you to be thrashed everything else is a bonus.”
However Flower, one of only four survivors from Zimbabwe’s last visit to England in 2000, warned: ”The guys have got to mature quickly. It’s a hard tour, especially early in the season.” – Sapa-AFP