'There is no way England can compare itself to West Indies or Australia'

Duncan Fletcher’s duel with Andy Flower will add spice to an Indian summer. So they thought but the England Team Director has thoroughly outsmarted the new India coach and helped his team reach the top of the world. Flower gave an interview to reporters on Sunday, after England thrashed India in the third Test at Edgbaston to go to number one in the world rankings – at the expense of the weary-looking Indians. Did you and the team have a few celebratory beers last night? Of course we were celebrating what we had achieved and it was quite nice to spend a bit of relaxed time together at the hotel after we got back from the ground. The dressing room is always a special place after a win. You have made No. 1 - where now? We used that goal - to be No.1 - as a motivational tool and there was a real motivation that drove us in training and in matches. In that regard, achieving No. 1 in ranking was a really useful way to gauge our improvement. Now that we have achieved that what Strauss and I don’t want to do is hang on to No. 1 status. That’s not a very exciting way to go about our business. We are going to have to reset our goals and I’d like to do that not only with the captain and the captains but with the team. We already have some ideas on that. Could you possibly elaborate on those future goals? We’ve always had a goal of constant improvement and that doesn’t change just because your ranking points change. It would be a really dangerous position to be in if we weren’t trying to constantly improve ourselves. We’ve definitely got a large scope for improvement and I think that everyone in our dressing room realises that. That principle will remain in our group. We’ve also got the individual Test series which are very important in their own right. This winter we go to play against two countries that the last time England toured those countries we lost. We want to go away and play Pakistan and Sri Lanka away from home and win those series. Ignoring the ranking those series will have their own importance. We’ve also got the World Test Championship for the first time in 2013 and that’s in our own country. That is certainly something we are striving for - we have to be in the top four to get into the semi finals of it and we are going to be working hard between now and then to ensure that we are a strong unit ready for that semi final. [caption id=“attachment_61099” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Andy Flower has done a good job as England’s team director. Getty Images”] [/caption] Can you be a great side like West Indies and Australia were? Well we are a good side there is no doubt about that. I don’t’ think we can compare ourselves to those sides to be quite honest. They dominated world cricket for lengthy periods. We have been playing well for a little while now but only for a short time in cricketing history terms. There is no way we can compare ourselves to those sides in my opinion. Who knows what the future holds though? That is going to be up to us. It is up to us to deliver excellence and be hungry enough to keep driving ourselves hard enough to deliver that excellence. Time will tell. To fall on your faces at The Oval would be disaster, wouldn’t it? I don’t think anyone in our dressing room would be thinking in those terms. The individuals will take care of their own games and make sure that they take responsibility. The bottom line is you have to deliver out there in the middle. The players have done that brilliantly but there is no time for complacency. When they step over that line it is going to be a full-on battle again. They are going to have to fight hard. It takes an enormous amount of work to get into a position to win a Test match and they are going to have to do it again. Last night we basked in a little bit of glory. Today is a new day. Whether we had won or lost that match we have to draw a line under it now. You lost a series in the West Indies in 2009. What was wrong with that side then that is right with this now? You were a batting coach at the time. I don’t want to go into past sides and talk about what was wrong. What is right about this side at the moment is it’s got an outstanding leader in Andrew Strauss - he really is a special man. The players have being asked to embrace responsibility and they have delivered. Strauss asked that of them when he took over the captaincy a couple of years ago and they are repaying him. Will England be judged on how they do against India abroad in the 2012-13 winter? We will be judged in whatever match we play. We lost to Holland in a T20 match at Lord’s and we were judged then. Whatever series we play in we will be judged and that’s part and parcel of what we do. I think now we are ranked No 1 people will be very hungry to knock us off that perch. There is no doubt about that. Most importantly we as a group must keep our feet firmly on the floor and keep doing simple things well. It is one thing being good for a short period of time but having a side that delivers some special results and has some special times together that they will remember for the rest of their lives that will be a much better thing to look back on that a few victories here and there. India’s line of succession (middle-order) has become clogged. Is timing replacements in a side one of the more difficult aspects of management? Selections are a very important aspect because we have a responsibility to select wisely and that responsibility is to the people who employ us but also because these decisions affect people’s careers and therefore their lives. To talk succession part of our responsibility is to think medium and long term but getting the balance right. We select what is the best XI to win that match but the balance between the medium-term is the tricky thing. What I do like is the principle of players having to force their way into the side. They have to be good enough, playing domestic cricket or Lions cricket, to force their way in to the national side. If that system does exist where they have to work incredibly hard and get good results then that is succession planning on its own. Are there any irreplaceable in this side? Perhaps Swann, Strauss, Pietersen, Jimmy? I don’t’ think anyone is irreplaceable. Through my career and watching what happens in teams at whatever level and watching how other teams operate - it is quite scary when you lose some of your more influential players or coaches of management and while they are there you think how can we operate without this guy. But what always happens is that someone steps into the breach and life goes on. You know, life always moves on even from great players and very quickly. We have seen a number of examples of that very recently. Do you keep doing the same things that have brought success or change it? I always think it is very dangerous to try to hold on to what you have got. You have to move forward and you are always looking to improve. That is a much healthier position to be in. We talk about that in the dressing room. From a strategy point of view that would be a mistake to try to hold on to what you have. We are always looking at ways to improve - some of coaches and management staff are excellent at it. And that makes it a more fun environment. Schedule of international cricket - any fears of burnout having reached top? The future tours programme is not going to be affected by anything I say. We might move a game a few days forward or backwards or might have an extra warm up but we cannot affect it in any significant way. Without doubt there is too much cricket in a number of our structures - both international and domestic - but specifically about our team we have an unheard of break coming up in November and December. That will be a real bonus for us, to allow people to take their minds off cricket for a little while and to rest bodies and minds. Also some to do some strength work. It comes at a good time.