England coach Andy Flower has revealed that he didn't support captain Andrew Strauss's decision to reprieve Sri Lankan batsmen Angelo Mathews during the victory in the Champions Trophy on Friday night.
Strauss withdrew England's appeal after Mathews had been run out following a collision with Graham Onions while going for a second run, allowing the Sri Lankan to return to the crease.
It was act of sportsmanship that has garnered much praise for Strauss, but Flower feels his captain was overly generous. "I would definitely have not recalled him," said Flower. "But Strauss is a good man and I trust him completely.
"He made his decision and I back him on that, I just wouldn't have done it myself. I would have sent the batsman on his way. He ran into the bowler. Simple deal."
England take on hosts South Africa today in the day-night encounter at Centurion would send England into the final four of the mini-World Cup at the earliest opportunity. Victory would be a tall order but England have made a habit recently of winning when not fancied having arrived at the competition as one of the outsiders, given their one-day thrashing by Australia, but humbled in-form Sri Lanka by six wickets with plenty to spare.
"Look, we are huge underdogs going into [the game]," said Flower. "Everyone realises that. It doesn't mean we can't win the game - we were underdogs going into the game against Sri Lanka, we were underdogs going into the Ashes series - but we will have to be right on top of our game to do so."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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