Player to watch out for. Review on Andy Flower

Andy Flower is a great player and he is the one the teams has to watch out for. He is in not in the same class of Lara's, Tendulkar's, Waugh's etc, but he is a very classy and dedicated player.

Andy made his test debut against India at Harare in 1992/93 and in One Day Internationals he made against Sri Lanka at New Plymouth in 1992 World Cup.

He has played in 61 test matches and has made 4655 runs at an average of 52.30, best being 232 not out. In One Day Internationals he has played in 195 matches and has made 5987 runs at an average of 33.63, best being 142 not out.

Apart from being a classy batsmen, he is a very useful wicket keeper. He has taken 136 catches and also contributed in 32 stumpings.

He is nicknamed ''Petals '' by his teammates. He scored his is first century against Sri Lanka in the first World Cup match of 1992.

Andy was appointed captain in 1994/95 series against Pakistan. His captaincy was also excellent as he handled the team very well against Pakistan. He himself scored two useful sixties, but the innings he rates as his best was his 156 against Pakistan at Harare Sports Club in 1994/95, in the match which brought Zimbabwe their first Test victory.

Zimbabwe were struggling at 42 for three and then Andy joined his brother Grant at the wicket. They had a partnership of 269 breaking the record of Ian and Greg Chappell for brothers in Test cricket. Zimbabwe went on to win the match by an innings.

From then on, he never looked back and proved that he is a very elegant left hand batsmen. He also had a wonderful series against India in 2000/01. Andy finds Wasim Akram and Shane Warne as the most difficult bowlers he has faced. Apart form cricket, he loves to play tennis,squash,rugby and hockey. He also enjoys reading and hopes to see day-night cricket introduced in Zimbabwe.

Indeed a very dedicated true cricketer. I salute him for his contribution in the world of cricket.