Is Andy Flower the next 'Tinkerman'?

Claudio Ranieri earned the nickname of Tinkerman from the press during his stint as Chelsea manager in the early noughties in the belief that he over-rotated his squad. Rafa Benitez too has received consistent criticism during his time in charge of Liverpool for serially changing his starting line-up. Alex Ferguson has done the same without much criticism, but that is partly down to the fact that he has brought a regular stream of trophies to Old Trafford, and partly because the press is scared of him. As so often in history, it was the pioneers who took the stick whilst others reaped the rewards with squad rotation now as common as Ashley Cole's alleged misdemeanours.

Other than the occasional occurrence during a five or seven match one day series, cricket has not really experienced much of a rotation system. James Anderson and Paul Collingwood were given rests during the Nat West series with Australia last year and both came back refreshed and upped the level of their performances in time for the Champions Trophy in South Africa. And Australia have regularly rested Ricky Ponting and Mitchell Johnson amongst others for one dayers and Twenty 20s. But up until now test cricket has been fairly sacrosanct when it comes to rotation. 

There was a lot of speculation that several England players would be rested for the tour to Bangladesh earlier this year, but in the event it was only captain Andrew Strauss that missed the tests in Chittagong and Dhaka. Strauss got a lot of criticism for that from many former players like Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain, and of course Shane Warne didn't miss an opportunity to put in a dig at the England set-up.

However, if Andy Flower's words at Gatwick Airport earlier in the week are to be believed, squad rotation is likely to be much in evidence over the summer when England will play against Bangladesh, Pakistan and Australia in what is a heavily congested schedule.Mindful of the challenges that lie ahead over the next 12 months including the Ashes and the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent, Flower warned that:

"We have a very busy 12 months ahead of us and we are going to have to rest players at various times. In certain situations it is possible that we will have to rest some players either for emotional reasons such as stress, and sometimes it will be for strength and conditioning reasons. With our schedule it will be hard to fit enough strength and conditioning in."

We believe that Flower is right. Most England fans will happily see Collingwood, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and even Kevin Pietersen rested in order that they are in peak condition to retain the Ashes and put in a good show in the World Cup. With more and more international cricket being played, and the opportunity for players to secure their retirement funds in the IPL, squad rotation is likely to become as prevalent in cricket as it is in football.

Given the midas touch that he has had with English cricket in such a short time in all formats and the real improvements he has made in terms of mindset, fielding and togetherness, Flower is more likely to receive a positive reception from the press like Fergie then Benitez and especially the original Tinkerman Ranieri.

The proof in the pudding will be known come the end of the World Cup next year. If by then England have retained the Ashes and added the World Cup to the trophy cabinet, then Flower will be hailed for this ability to identify when players need a rest as much for his coaching, motivational and management skills.

Comments

[David Siddall]

One trophy in the bag, now there's no stopping us I see. The future of English cricket looks very bright with Andy Flower around. Let's try and not get carried away. What will be our opening day of the Ashes bowling lineup?

[The Reverse Sweep]

I'd guess it would be Strauss, Cook, KP, Colly, Bell, Prior/Kieswetter, Bresnan, Swann, Broad, Anderson and Finn/Harmison, and if we play safe and have a sixth batsman then it would be Trott/Morgan/Gale for Bresnan or Finn/Harmison