Sport - Cricket

England batsmen were defensive: Andy Flower

Chennai: Kevin Pietersen denied it but batting coach Andy Flower has no hesitation in admitting that the England batsmen were defensive in their approach in the first Test.

“To be honest, I think we were a little defensive. I feel we could have been more attacking in our game,” said the former Zimbabwe cricketer who is here as the batting coach of the England side.

Despite being in the driver’s seat, England scored a meagre 57 runs in the session between lunch and tea on Sunday.

Describing the six-wicket defeat as “dispiriting”, Flower said: “To lose after setting up a target of 387 is extremely dispiriting. It doesn’t happen often but then we cannot dwell too much in that and should look to move on.

“We are not looking for huge changes but must look to capitalise on momentum,” said Flower in a TV interview.

Meanwhile, England coach Peter Moores said the superior skills of Indian batsmen tilted the Chennai Test in their favour. He said the skills of players like Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh proved decisive.

“It was a hard day to watch,” Moores said.

“Sehwag came out and changed the momentum of the game completely and then today they played with great skill and took themselves home.

“I don’t think it’s tactics, it’s skill. To rotate spinners on a difficult surface like a Test match pitch in India takes a lot of skill,” he said. — PTI

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu