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| March 12, 2003 | Wednesday | Muharram 8, 1424 |
‘There’s Sachin and there’s the rest’
BLOEMFONTEIN, March 11: According to Andy Flower, there are two categories of batsmen: Sachin Tendulkar, and the rest.
“He is the best in the world,” Flower said of the Indian player. “The rest of us, who are more human, make mistakes sometimes.
“But people watch him bat and they think all of us should play as well as he does. It doesn’t quite work like that.”
Flower had been asked why he, as one of the game’s premier batsmen, had not cashed in against the weaker teams in the World Cup.
Flower scored 39 against Namibia and 71 against Holland. Zimbabwe will have their last opportunity against a minor side when they play Kenya in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
Shouldn’t Flower be looking to score a century against his African cousins?
“I agree. All of our batsmen should aim to score hundreds against them,” Flower said.
Flower’s World Cup career record could also do with the boost of a century on Wednesday.
In 28 matches he has scored just one hundred.
In 211 One-day Internationals, he has converted only four of his 54 half-centuries into three figure.
However, Flower’s total of 6,685 runs remains the highest individual aggregate by a Zimbabwean.
“I’m playing well at the moment,,” Flower said.
Wednesday’s match may present Flower with the ideal opportunity to improve his statistics, but Zimbabwe also need to win it, as well as beating Sri Lanka in East London on Saturday, to stay alive in the race for the semifinals.
Tendulkar, the world’s leading batsman, has scored a record 571 runs at the 2003 tournament.—Reuters
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