London: Ahead of the crucial third Test against India starting next Wednesday at Edgbaston, England coach Andy Flower has warned his team against complacency and stated that the job is not yet fully done.
Railing against any ‘triumphalism’, Flower had a team meeting straight after the 319-run win over India at Trent Bridge to remind his players that their job was only half done.
“It is important for the side that being the number one Test team in the world is not at the forefront of our minds,” Flower was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror. “At the forefront of our minds should be resting and recuperating after the back-to-back Tests and then getting our minds and bodies ready for the next challenge at Edgbaston.
“And actually it is not only pointless to look further ahead than that, it’s dangerous. So I would like to emphasise right now, and we have done the same in our dressing-room, that we are ahead in the series but we are only halfway through it,” he added.
A win in the third Test at Edgbaston will put the home team at the pinnacle of the Test rankings for the first time since rankings were introduced, but the former Zimbabwe wicketkeeper-batsman is trying to keep his feet firmly on the ground.
“So there is no point in triumphalism. We do not even know if we are going to win the series yet,” he said.
“It is very important our players and management understand that.
“We can gain great confidence from the way we have handled ourselves under pressure but next Wednesday is the start of another great test,” he added.
Meanwhile, defending his decision to visit the Indian dressing room with skipper Andrew Strauss, Flower felt that there would have been an ‘international incident’ had an Indian batsman been run out by England in Mumbai the way Ian Bell was at Trent Bridge.
“You should also consider what the reaction would have been if an England player did that. If England had done that in Mumbai then a proper international incident could have been on the cards,” Flower was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
“We did not think sitting in our dressing room quietly fuming was going to do any good,” Flower said. (UNI)