The ILT20's clash with the SA20 has brought local-player development into sharp focus, particularly in the wake of Graeme Smith's comments that a league like the ILT20 is good for the game because it focuses more on international star power and less of local talent. But what about developing local talent?
Andy Flower, head coach of inaugural ILT20 champions Gulf Giants, has been working exhaustively during the off-season, outside his other franchise league commitments, to identify and develop local players in the UAE.
This interview, which took place in October 2024 in Dubai, was on the sidelines of a scouting tournament at the ICC Academy, where the Giants were trying to sign two local players in addition to the two they had already signed last year. Flower reflects on his scouting methods, his work with the Giants, and his coaching career at large.
How have you seen the UAE ecosystem flourish with the ILT20 coming in?
It's different to most cricket ecosystems around the world, because we don't have a lot of Emiratis playing cricket. But there is a growing population of people that live and work here who see cricket as a pathway to fulfilling some of their sporting dreams. Some want to see how well they can do amongst better players, some see it as a way to earn money and some enjoy the team aspects of it. The exposure for UAE players in the ILT20, through Abu Dhabi T10 and their domestic leagues, is improving.
How do you scout for players in the ILT20, given you're busy all year round?
I use player agents, coaches, and people involved in the game here as a sounding board. I also now know a number of the UAE players. Between them, I've got the best view of the players and opponents. Coverage and streaming of games in the region have improved.
As we speak, I'm watching the live streaming of a development game [at ICC Academy, Dubai]. I've come in from the UK to scout for two UAE players in addition to our two picks: Aayan Afzal Khan and Muhammad Zuhaib. In time to come, I would think that minimum requirement of two UAE players in the XI and the system will grow to support three or four.
How do you judge players who are good, but don't show the same spark at trials?
There's a lot of data on the players these days. Like with most things in life, you're generally trying to find a balance somewhere if you're looking for good decisions. You are looking to see some evidence that supports the theory that this young player can produce results for you. This game is about producing results. It's about finding solutions, creating the habit of beating your opponent, of finding ways to exploit his weaknesses and finding ways to exploit your strengths and hide your weaknesses.
So you want to see evidence of that through-way to runs or wickets or whatever. But there's this other side of it where you're trying to predict how a person is going to develop and whether that person has that little bit of X-factor he can bring to the party at some stage in the future that is going to produce results. And I think there are some people that have a better eye than others.
And I wouldn't profess to be particularly any better than the next person. But for instance, I'll give you an example. When Joe Root first made it into the England Academy and the England Lions squad, Graham Thorpe was on the phone with me. And he said, 'this guy can play, he's got a very good technique.' And I remember I was sitting while walking through my lounge or something one day, or in a hotel room, and watching him play.
I think it was his first 50-over game for Yorkshire. He didn't get many, but straightaway I thought, 'wow, I'm going to keep watching him.' There was something about him. I don't even know what it was. But there was something about him that after years of watching a lot of great players, my eyes were attracted to him. And that was in his first 50-over game. So there is something to be said for the instinct, for following instinct and following your gut feelings from players, absolutely.
So there's also a gut feel that helps make certain decisions/selections?
The bottom line is they have to perform. It can't all be potential. And probably for every one of those stories that I've just told about Thorpe and myself with Joe Root, there'll be five others that we were wrong about.
Specifically with ILT20, how do you keep in touch with the local players you sign?
When we left Aayan and Zuhaib last February after the tournament finished, we left them with a few things to work on. To be honest, I certainly didn't closely monitor them. I monitored the scorecards when Aayan was playing, absolutely. And it's really great to see that he's had a great year for the UAE in white-ball cricket.
And Zuhaib has played for the country as well but isn't in the side at the moment and definitely has a few things to work on. But we haven't been closely monitoring them or micromanaging them. We've let them go out there and develop. And one of the good things about the UAE, I think, is that there's so many games available for them to play. And I much prefer them playing those games than just net practicing all the time.
With schedules as demanding as yours, how do you switch from one league to another?
I really enjoy the fact that there's a real variety to my coaching life. You experience these different cultures in the dressing room and in whatever country you go to. And that certainly enriches me as a person. I've loved spending time in India, in Pakistan, in the Caribbean, here in the UAE.
I live in England, but being involved in those different cultures, it's a real blessing for me. The other thing is you meet a lot of really good people and that's invigorating. I think it keeps me feeling younger because you're mixing with the young, hungry, motivated people, which is brilliant. And I like that energy around me. So the professional challenges are also there, which I really like.
You know, the owners want results, which is quite right. That's why they employ us. And I like the professional challenge of getting a group of people together in a sports team and seeing if we can do better than our opposition.
The other thing I want to do and I like to talk about in the franchise world is, each time you come together as a team in the franchise world, you will only be that team once ever in your life. You'll never have the same group of people together again. True. There's a draft for an auction before the next tournament. Someone's bound to go out, others may come in. The staff could change. You never have that group again.
"I hear sometimes cricketers, captains, coaches almost fearful about talking about data. I don't view it that way at all." Andy Flower
So if you're together for, say, three months at the IPL or together for five weeks at the ILT20, really embrace that as a blessing. And make sure that you enjoy your time with each other. Of course, there will be some tensions and some pressures and maybe some disagreements. But the fact that you can meet such a wonderful variety of people in this job is, again, is a very positive aspect of it.
At one stage, I was doing, say, five jobs, five teams in a year. Now I'm doing four, which gives me some more time and energy. When I was doing ILT20, then PSL, then IPL, that was very tiring. I found that very tiring. It was literally not a day between the tournaments. So this is without the PSL in the middle, it is definitely giving me more energy around that time of the year. And there's quite a lot of work to do for monitoring players, strategising, and whatever you do. You're on the phone quite a lot. You're either organising staff or you're monitoring some of your players, and if you've got multiple teams, you're keeping an eye on quite a few players. You talk about players' fitness, their form, their development. There's always an auction or a draft to be looking forward to. And obviously the IPL is the biggest one of those, which takes a lot of time and energy.
How has the tactical involvement in your coaching evolved over 20 years?
It's a lot further back than that. When we first started playing cricket for Zimbabwe, we didn't get paid as players. But myself, my brother [Grant Flower], Alastair Campbell and Dave Houghton, we all were paid as coaches. And so we were coaching in our early 20s. We were professional coaches, not professional cricketers. In the winters, we used to go across to Holland, or into the leagues in England. I played in the Birmingham League and Central Lancashire League during the weekends, and during the week, we'd coach. Also, when I played for Zimbabwe, I was not just interested in my own development, but also interested in my brother's development and my fellow players'. So, we used to work with each other a lot. We didn't have a group of coaches working with us. We used to work with each other,. And that's how it was in those days. So I would say I've been working in coaching for many decades.
But just more to your question, your point - when I first started coaching with England, which was my first main coaching job after playing, I was very lucky to get that job. I brought in an analyst there, a guy called Nathan Leamon who still works with the ECB. He was a brilliant guy, a mathematician, but he was also a cricket coach and a rugby coach. We were trying to do something different with analytics then. And I enjoyed conversing with him about cricket. One of his clear tasks was to challenge us coaches; it wasn't to agree with us. Especially challenge some of the cricketing norms and some of the bull**** that was spoken in dressing rooms.
I really enjoyed giving him that role and I think he really enjoyed doing it. Yes, we call some of the obvious cricketing decisions that captains used to make in days gone by, we call them match-ups now. It is a more glorified term, but the emphasis on it is important because there is more statistical information available to us to suggest tactical directions. And so I hear sometimes cricketers, captains, coaches almost fearful about talking about data. I don't view it that way at all.
I just think it's information and the important thing is how you use that information. It's which stuff you listen to, which stuff you don't listen to. It's how you work with that information with your coaching team. It's how you share that information, how and when you share that information with players, if you share it with them at all. That's the important stuff. But we shouldn't stop collecting data because it helps us, it should help us understand the game better. And it should help us develop the game, develop players, develop new tactics. I don't think that's going to stop.