Flintoff blooms under Flower

Andy Flower was a highly renowned player of spin in his days with Zimbabwe

Andy Flower is confident Andrew Flintoff can continue his fine start to the tour of India and make a major impact on England's one-day and Test series.

Batting coach Flower has been working closely with the England all-rounder to improve his game plan against spin, which has often been regarded as a weakness in Flintoff's armoury despite him averaging over 50 during the last Test series here two years ago.

That crash course in combating the unique challenge of facing spin on the dry and dusty pitches in India appears to have reaped early dividends, with Flintoff hitting an unbeaten century in the tourists' comfortable 122-run victory over the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Flintoff immediately shrugged off his early success as "something to build on", but former Zimbabwe captain Flower believes there is no reason why his star pupil cannot pass one of the toughest examinations in world cricket over the coming weeks.

"You can be a good player of spin and play in different ways," explained Flower, who averaged 117 during his five Tests in India and was renowned as a great player of spin.

"The basics of batting apply but I think someone like Flintoff can't use the same sort of methods like (Ravi) Bopara or (Ian) Bell could because they are light on their feet and they can get forward and back easily.

"He's a big, strong bloke and he's got to play differently for physical reasons, but there are different ways of doing it.

"Some of the basics, some of the most important things like picking up length and moving and being quite clear about how you play spin out here, and how you play spin individually. If you can work that out, understand yourself your game against spin, you've got quite a good chance."

Fortunately for Flower, Flintoff has plenty of experience of the conditions in India, having played six Tests and 11 one-day internationals in the country, and already had an understanding of what was required to succeed.

Using Flintoff's experience, Flower has attempted to help him manoeuvre the ball better and be quicker on his feet.

Andrew Flintoff has to adapt his gameplan to combat the threat of the India spinners

"He's got a little more skill certainly than I thought before I arrived and watched him close up," admitted Flower.

"I think we saw a bit of that against the South Africans in the one-dayers in England, especially at Headingley when he let some of their quicks come on to the bat and placed it either side of point and over point by playing it late.

"He played well against South Africa and this will be a different challenge for him against spin, but he did quite well the last time he was here and scored a few 50s in the Test series so he's got experience of the conditions which will hold him in really good stead.

"I've enjoyed working with him. When he puts his game head on or his practice head on he's serious about his business which is the way it should be. He's worked really hard and I thought you could see some of that control and that controlled power on Sunday.

"It will be more difficult as he comes against the better bowlers but if he can keep the same sort of control and the same sort of mentality, he's got a good chance of doing well."

England are also currently considering how best to utilise the new regulations for one-day internationals regarding powerplays, which were previously decided by the bowling side when they utilised their fielding restrictions.

The first 10 overs of every innings will still have enforced fielding restrictions but one of the two blocks of five further overs of powerplays are now at the discretion of the batting side, which changes the emphasis from defensive to attacking.

"We'll be discussing it, obviously, because it's something we haven't come across in competition yet," said Flower. "It's going to make a difference and how we're going to most take advantage of it is something that we're discussing and we'll have another go at it tomorrow.

"You can discuss it until the cows come home but until the guys actually experience it in the middle you don't quite know how it's going to work out.

"I think players are smart and will find proficient ways of using whatever rules are in place, so that's what we'll try to do and we'll try to do it better than the opposition."