England cricket fans will have spent the last few months in something approaching a permanent state of nocturnal nirvana. But there is a fascinating story behind the astonishing thrashing of Australia in their own back yard. And the story provides a compelling and timely insight into the secrets of success for businesses battling the recession.
One of the prime architects of England’s success is Andy Flower their Zimbabwean coach. Flower is a bright, understated, honest, courageous man. But it is his management skills that appear to underpin this team – his ability to motivate and his stomach for the hard word. He has also instilled an ethos of constant self improvement in the team a factor which cricket writers have repeatedly picked up on. Virtually every player appears to have benefitted from this outlook which implicitly shuns over confidence and complacency – the twin imposters which crippled England after they won the Ashes in 2005 in the greatest series of cricket ever played. Moreover egos particularly that of Kevin Pietersen have been reined in. No one is bigger than the team. This mentality has seen good players become great.
Alistair Cook, England’s opener and man of the series, embodies this success – glitteringly so. Cook’s performance is an absolute 24 carat gold inspiration to anyone and any business. He has scored a breathtaking 766 runs in six innings at an average of 127. What makes the feat all the more impressive is that at the start of the series he was the weak link. His place and his very career were on the line after a wretched series last summer against Pakistan which saw him score 106 runs in eight innings at an average of 13.25. However, following Flowers ethos he dedicated himself to hauling his form out of the ditch and prove his doubters wrong. He practiced remorselessly with former England great Graham Gooch and through graft he identified and solved his faults.
England have in every sense earned their success. But it has taken a change in outlook, strong management and an awful lot of sacrifice and hard work to reach this sporting summit. An achievement that has given long suffering cricket fans such enormous pleasure and pride. In the oft repeated phrase by the golfer Gary Player the more I practise the luckier I get. And we all need to get lucky as the economy struggles out of this long awful recession. Open top bus anyone?
by Ben Pinnington