Andy Flower regrets not extending 2003 'Death of Democracy' campaign, KP relationship

Former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower was widely regarded as one of the finest batsmen from his country. Since his debut in 1992, the wicketkeeper-batsman scored over 10,000 international runs across 63 Tests and 213 ODIs till 2003. During the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, Andy Flower along with his then-teammate Henry Olonga famously wore black armbands in an attempt to protest the democracy in Zimbabwe. The move was widely praised by international media but the two cricketers had to endure the tough brunt of some senior Zimbabwean political figures.

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Flower Olonga Death of Democracy: Former cricketer carries “slight guilt” for giving up

The famous stance by Andy Flower and Henry Olonga towards Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwean government forced the two cricketers to give up their international careers and leave the country. During a recent interaction with Following on Cricket Podcast, Andy Flower said that he feels guilty in leaving the campaign and not carrying on with the fight after the 2003 World Cup. He admitted that at the time, he had a young family and he did not feel like focusing away from cricket to devote to campaigning.

Speaking further about the 2003’s ‘Flower Olonga Death of Democracy’ movement, the ex-captain said his effort with Olonga was a small gesture for the people of Zimbabwe. He later praised Zimbabwean people by saying that there are brave people in the country who are currently working towards addressing their ‘human rights problem’.

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Andy Flower further added another reason about why he did not manage to extend his ‘Flower Olonga Death of Democracy’ movement. He said that during the time, he tended to “shy away” from the media and “didn’t knew how to use it properly”. Andy Flower believes that while his campaign worked to a certain extent, he wanted to make a “global impact” regarding the human rights abuses that were happening in the country.

Pietersen vs Flower: Andy Flower opens up about feud with Kevin Pietersen

Andy Flower shifted to England after fleeing his country in 2003. While he played county cricket for a few years, he was later appointed as the Head Coach of the England cricket team. During his coaching tenure, England rose to No.1 ranking in Tests and won the 2010 T20 World Cup in West Indies.

However, his working relations with premier England batsman and former captain Kevin Pietersen came into question on numerous occasions. Their relation was further ruined after Kevin Pietersen sent out text messages about his then captain Andrew Strauss to the visiting South African team. The ‘Pietersen vs Flower’ eventually ended with the resignation of the Zimbabwean as coach and the sacking of Kevin Pietersen from the English side.

In the podcast, he stated that he could have done more to have a better relationship with Kevin Pietersen. He says that he looks back at the experience and wishes for a little “hindering” of things.

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Image credits: England Cricket Twitter