Grant Flower

Six summers later after he’d decided to call it quits from the international cricket arena, Grant Flower; now 39 has decided to make a comeback. The former Zimbabwean batsman and sibling of former Zimbabwean glove man and skipper, and current England coach Andy Flower, has been named in the squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa.

A crucial element in the famed Zimbabwean line up of the late 90’s, Grant along with brother Andy was one of Zimbabwean batting’s mainstay since 1992 and was later joined by the ranks of promising cricketers like Murray Goodwin, Neil Johnson, and Paul Strang. A veteran of 67 Tests and 219 ODI’s, Grant started off as an opening batsman but was later shifted to no. 6 in ODI’s when he found success lower down the order. The younger Flower was a hard hitting batsman with over 3000 runs in his Test career, a good fielder inside the circle and a handy left arm spinner in the limited format of the game. Grant Flower left Zimbabwean cricket in 2004 following Heath Streak’s removal from captaincy.

Flower spent six seasons at English county, Essex and returned to Zimbabwe this August. Though things didn’t turn out pretty well for Essex as they were relegated to the second division, Flower had a good season scoring 527 runs at 65.87 and taking the side to the semis of the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition.

The 39 year old Flower made sure that he was fit enough to earn a call in the limited format of the game and cited his six year long tenure with Essex as one where he had regained experience in the limited format. Grant Flower will also be doubling as the batting coach for the national side and for the Mashonaland Eagles franchisee.

The three ODI’s and two T20I’s will be the only confirmed international outings for the Zimbabwe national team prior to the 2011 cricket world cup in the sub continent in February next year.

Tags: Andy Flower, Cricket, Grant Flower, International Cricket, South Africa, Sports, Zimbabwe