da winzada777： Zimbabwe wicketkeeper-batsman Andy Flower may have been giving SachinTendulkars and Mark Waughs tough competition with his consistentprolific scores but when it comes to earnings, the most successfulZimbabwe cricketer is miles behind
da bet sport： 15-Jun-2001Zimbabwe wicketkeeper-batsman Andy Flower may have been giving SachinTendulkars and Mark Waughs tough competition with his consistentprolific scores but when it comes to earnings, the most successfulZimbabwe cricketer is miles behind.Flower, considered to be the best batsman against spin, says Zimbabwecricketers are highly underpaid and advocates a minimum standardisedpay for all Test players to be laid down by the International CricketCouncil.”I think we have been underpaid. There should be a minimum of fixedpay for Test cricketers,” Flower told PTI in an interview. “(But) Ihave to give it more thought to put an actual figure on it.”We have to compete with other teams on an equal basis. Our public andour Board expects us to win or to compete but then we get paid apittance. I don’t think that’s right,” he said but did not grudge theamounts earned by Tendulkar or other cricketers. “Sachin deserves whathe earns. He is a huge star anywhere in the world.”Flower said he was “naive” to match-fixing activities but admitted tohaving noticed “funny instances” during the match on a few occasions.”There have been a few instances where I have said ‘there is somethingfunny going on and they are not playing the way they should beplaying’. But those have been very few and far between.”Flower felt the increase in the number of one-day internationals hadcontributed to the match-fixing activities and favoured a reduction inlimited-overs games. “There are too many one-dayers played for thepurity of the game to remain intact. We had a one-day tournament inFebruary and nobody remembers what happened in that tourney. I thinkthat should be the reason why we should cut down on the number of onedayers,” he said.Flower agreed with Anil Kumble’s comment that he remembered most ofhis wickets and how he got them in Tests but had difficulty inrecounting his dismissals in one-dayers. “I agree with him about thedifference and importance of two forms of cricket. The Tests are justeverything to me.”The former Zimbabwe captain admitted to being tempted by offers toplay for other countries because of financial reasons. “I have beentempted a number of times. I was born in South Africa and around1992-93 I thought about going to play in South Africa but then we gotthe Test status and I stayed back. I have had a couple of countycricket offers as well but because of my contract with the ZimbabweCricket Union, I couldn’t take up those offers,” he said, adding thenext time such an offer comes he would ask the ZCU to increase hisfees to compensate.Describing Tendulkar as a “very special player”, Flower said it was atreat to watch the batting of the Indian maestro from behind thestumps. “He has been superb to watch from behind. His balance, timing,eye position and technique doesn’t seemed to have changed much (overthe years) at all. Its all been very simple. Or let us say he has madeit look very simple. That is one of his great strengths that he hasgot a very simple technique,” he said, though he did feel that likeany other batsman Tendulkar, who likes to go for his shots, too wasslightly vulnerable against an outswinger.Flower had a lot of praise for Harbhajan Singh too, saying the offspinner was a “top quality bowler”. “He is not your standard offspinner. He has a lot of variations and tends to mix up his deliveriesall the time. He keeps you thinking. You can’t line him up, so tospeak.”Flower, who has close to a thousand runs in just six Test matchesagainst India, described playing in India as “an amazing feeling” andsaid he loved playing in the country. “My style of play is more suitedagainst spin. Plus, the wickets in India are very good for batting.And the outfield is quick. I love playing in India. The wholeatmosphere of touring India and playing cricket in India is an amazingfeeling.”Flower, whose main goal of seeing his country win a Test was achievedwhen Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan in 1997-98, said the peak of hiscareer was the tour of India last year where he averaged 270 in thetwo Tests with his highest score being an unbeaten 232 out of a tallyof 540 runs. “But I don’t want to leave it at that. I am still veryhungry,” he declared.
