‘Being on the road, in hotels is not healthy for families and relationships- Andy Flower on split coaching and specialist players

Reigning ODI and 20-20 World Cup champions, England are the one and only side who have to adopt split coaching and they totally have a different setup for Tests and different for the limited-overs format. 

Andy Flower, who now coaches franchises in different T20I leagues, has coached the England side for 12 years. He feels that the mental health of players and coaches is bound to affect with so much cricket going on.

“For some countries, it is not needed. For bigger countries who are playing tons of cricket, players specializing makes sense. It would also make sense from a coaching point of view and a lifestyle and health point of view. “Being on the road, living in hotels for two or three quarters in a year, that is not a healthy thing for families and relationships,” the former Zimbabwe captain told on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi T10 League.

On the recent success of England in the 20-20 World Cup, Flower said that a lot of credit should go to former coach Trevor Bayliss and skipper Eoin Morgan changed England’s way of playing white ball cricket after the ghosts of the 2015 World Cup. 

T10 would be a perfect format for cricket’s entry into the Olympics: Andy Flower

He talked about the T10 format, Flower said 10-over a side game is an ideal pitch for cricket’s entry into the Olympics.  

“T10 is an excellent format. It is very exciting to be part of. It is a very aggressive form of the game. Because it has a shorter time span, it makes it very attractive for tournament play, you can play three-day games in a day on the same pitch. For me, this would be a perfect format for cricket’s entry into the Olympics. At the moment the most popular form of cricket is T20 and that format, too, is growing. I would be surprised if T10 did not grow in popularity,” he added.

Flower has coached the Lucknow franchise in the Indian T20 League and has coached in T20 leagues around the word since 2019. He was with Delhi Bulls for the T10 League in Abu Dhabi.