Andy Flower to quit

JOHANNESBURG: He has not said it and nor has the Zimbabwe Cricket Union but everybody is thinking it. All things being equal, Andy Flower, one of the best batsmen of his generation, will play his last game for his country against Pakistan today.

His country? The words are apposite. Zimbabwe has yet to call on Flower to surrender his passport following his World Cup protests against President Robert Mugabe’s government, but they have already disowned him. Nathan Shamuyarira, information secretary for the governing ZANU-PF party in Zimbabwe, put it simply during an interview with a Johannesburg radio station earlier in the tournament. “Flower is...not a Zimbabwean,” he said. “He is British.” Flower, Cape Town-born, Zimbabwe-bred and with an English wife, could end up being just that — British — or even Australian. He seems set to divide his future between England and Australia, playing county — he was a big success at Essex last year — and state cricket.