NAGPUR – An ability to “learn and adapt” has been identified by Andy Flower as the key to England’s cricket series success victory in India.
Report by Cricinfo
By drawing the final Test in Nagpur, England secured their first series win in India since 1984-1985 and inflicted a first home series defeat upon India since 2004.
It was a far cry from the events in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) a few months earlier. At that time, as England succumbed to a 3-0 series defeat against Pakistan; England’s batsmen had no answer to the spin threat of Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman.
But Flower, the England team director, took particular satisfaction from the way his team had accepted their failings in the UAE and worked to improve. He also admitted that an element of complacency may have crept into the squad after they had reached the No 1 Test ranking at the end of 2011.
“I don’t know if lost focus is quite the right phrase to use,” Flower said, “but if there are degrees of hunger and desire, perhaps we dropped off a couple after getting to No 1.
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“We had a tough time in the UAE against Pakistan at the start of the year and one of the most satisfying things at the minute – certainly for me, and I’m sure for the players – is that they’ve shown they can score runs. We’ve come out here and very importantly shown that this bunch of cricketers can learn and adapt.”