NEWS ALERT

NEWS UPDATE : Asian Cricket Third Sri Lanka-Pakistan ODI abandoned due to rain COLOMBO: The third One-day International between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was abandoned due to rain here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday. The umpires made this decision after consulting ... Australia want to master all forms of game: Clarke SYDNEY: Australia's limited-overs tour of England and Ireland represents the start of a two-year campaign to make them the top nation in all three forms of the game, captain Michael Clarke said ... Bopara glad to be back for England SOUTHAMPTON, England: Ravi Bopara is eager to make up for lost times as he tries to revive his ... South Africa name unchanged squad for England series JOHANNESBURG: South Africa have kept faith with a winning formula by naming an unchanged squad for the three-Test series in England starting next month, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on ...


Monday, October 03, 2011

Cook an excellent leader: Flower

England head coach Andy Flower feels the maturity of their One-day side's skipper Alastair Cook will prove vital to team's success in the forthcoming series against India.England will fly out to India Monday with Cook looking to repeat the team's success at home. England play five ODI against India beginning Oct 8 at Hyderabad.Cook's place in the side at one point was questioned, but he proved his critics wrong with prolific scoring this year and then steered his side to an impressive series victory over India.Flower called Cook an 'excellent' leader.'He's been excellent as a leader and grown in confidence,' Flower was quoted as saying in Daily Express.'On the tour of Bangladesh, when he captained while Andrew Strauss was resting, he grew and learned a lot and I'd say we've seen similar growth this summer.'It's always nice to see someone grow in confidence. It's horrible to see anyone lose confidence in any walk of life.'So the opposite, seeing someone grow in confidence, is a really nice thing, particularly for us as coaches, ' he said.