Flintoff's key to keeping the urn, predicts Flower

THERE is nothing Andy Flower would like more than to see England retain the Ashes this winter. The man described as having 'no rival as the best player in Zimbabwe's history' took obvious pleasure in seeing Australia famously defeated back in 2005 and just the thought of it occurring in their own backyard this time around puts him into a brief daydream.

However, Flower believes that England are definite underdogs, with the Aussies having 'hammered the opposition they have played in the interim' and a whole nation Down Under desperate for them to regain the urn.

'England are the holders but they are still the underdogs. Australia are playing at home. Personally I still consider them to be the best side in the world and then you have the Shane Warne factor. You add Shane Warne to a side and it makes them an incredible side because of his talent and his character.

'Losing the Ashes hurt them bigtime, but it was the best thing that could have happened to world cricket. I would love to see England beat them again.'

Flower, who was in Guernsey for an Ashley Cowan benefit year event sponsored by HSBC, repeated that last line a couple of times, with the grin of someone who took tremendous enjoyment in seeing the world's best knocked off their perch last year.

Once this most amiable of men had regained his composure, it was on to his thoughts of the 2007 World Cup and who he reckons will fight it out for the top honour in the Caribbean in the spring.

'Australia are definitely up there. Then I would look at some of the sub-continent sides because of the West Indies wickets. The pitches are not hard, fast and bouncy - they are low, they turn, they go up and down a bit, so the Asian sides should feel the benefit.

It seems England will go to the Caribbean with hope rather than expectation following mediocre one-day form in recent times.

Flower believes the problem lies in the domestic game, because the players have proved their worth in Test cricket.

'The only reason I can see is the intensity with which it is played in county cricket,' he said after the moment's consideration that preceded all his answers.

'The fact is so much cricket is played during the season and quite often you have a four-day game followed by a one-dayer the next day - that could be training some English players to play just under the intensity level you need.

'Skill-wise and talent-wise, you cannot say that the personnel are any less skillful.'

Flower retired from international cricket at the end of the most recent World Cup three-and-a-half years ago, a tournament which began for him and Zimbabwean teammate Henry Olonga with a brave and remarkable protest against the Mugabe regime.

Ahead of their opening match in their home country, the pair issued a statement expressing their concern that 'millions of our compatriots are starving, unemployed and oppressed'.

They chose to wear black armbands for the duration of the tournament to signify that they were 'mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe' and making a silent plea to those responsible to stop the abuse of human rights in the country.

It spelled the end of a brilliant international career for Flower.

The classy left-hander remains the leading run scorer for Zimbabwe, having notched up 4,794 in 63 Tests at an average of 51.54 to go along with 6,786 ODI runs in 213 matches.

He even had a spell as the number-one ranked Test batsman in the world.

But does he miss playing on the international stage?

'I did at first, but not any more. I have just moved on.

'Still, though, when I see people scoring a Test hundred and getting international runs I feel a bit jealous because I feel I could be doing it.'

However, Flower is in no doubt that Zimbabwe are out of their depth against the big boys.

'They should not be playing international cricket - they are not strong enough. If they were playing in the county system, they would be getting beaten by those sides.

'Even when we were given Test status in 1992, I thought it was a bit early and felt we would be better served playing in South African graded cricket. But they did give us it and we made steps forward.

Flower, 38, still intends on playing for at least a couple more seasons, but is already considering his options for the future and is very keen on getting involved with coaching.

'You do get a lot of ex-players going into coaching but we all know that if you are a good player it does not necessarily make you a good coach.

'In saying that, it does help to have a good powerbase to start from.

'If you have done well as a player, you are likely to get the respect of those you coach and even though I did not play for a great side, my record in international cricket was pretty good.'