England coach Andy Flower thinks that his bowlers’ inability to swing the ball was the reason for the side’s poor performance in New Zealand.
England head coach Andy Flower has spoken out against his side in the wake of a disappointing drawn series against New Zealand.
Flower believes that the bowlers’ difficulty swinging the ball meant that England were never going to be in a winning position.
“If you don’t move the ball sideways you are not going to create many problems for international batsmen,” the head coach said on the Telegraph’s website.
“I’m not sure why we haven’t swung it but it’s something the bowlers and David Saker [England’s bowling coach] are going to have to get on.”
In New Zealand and Australia the Kookaburra ball is used in Test matches and is renowned for swinging greatly, which further adds to the mystery as to why England’s bowlers struggled so much.
Swing is of course a tricky technique to master but English bowler James Anderson is regarded as one of the best in the world at making the ball move.
Traditional swing requires a lot of skill from the bowler as they have to determine how the seam is angled and how the ball revolves.
Reverse swing however is based more on the wear of the ball, with one side needing to be rough and pitted and the other being shiny.
Whilst New Zealand bowlers Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner all had success making the ball move in the air, England’s attack did not as the Black Caps top-order – primarily Peter Fulton and Brendon McCullum – hit Flower’s men around the pitch on several occasions.
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