When Andy Flower ended a highly successful, if occasionally stormy, 12-year term with English cricket last year, his next destination might have surprised many.
The Abu Dhabi T10 does not seem an obvious fit for a coach who had helped England’s rise to No 1 in Test cricket, and who had spent the previous six years in mentor and development roles.
Despite its popularity in its three season in the UAE so far, 10-over cricket remains beyond the pale for some cricket purists – a group to which it might be easy to ascribe Flower.
The former Zimbabwe player is excited to have the chance to explore franchise cricket in the coming years, and has already locked down roles with teams in Pakistan, India and the Caribbean.
But he says the T10 calling was a surprise even to him. Out of the blue, his agent contacted him, said there was a head coach position going with one of the teams, and asked if he would be interested.
Flower said yes, and was on a flight to Dubai for the draft that evening, to try and assemble a squad in a format he had never seen played, let alone experienced himself.
"I have a couple of good statistician friends that I asked a couple of questions of, and they fired me back some information that was useful," Flower told The National.
“Even though it was only the third year of T10, there were some interesting little stats.
“I am not going to divulge any of our secrets, but even from two tournaments there was some interesting stuff.”
No wonder he wants to keep the secrets to himself. Two tournaments in to his grand tour of franchise cricket, it already seems as though he has it cracked.
His Maratha Arabians were convincing winners of the 2019 T10, while Multan Sultans are the champions-elect in the Pakistan Super League.
Multan was Flower's next port of call after the T10. With the PSL currently suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic with its play-off series pending, his team have been clearly the outstanding side in it.
“It is a lucky start, to be quite frank. The sample size is small,” Flower said of his new beginnings as a franchise-cricket coaching guru.
“Getting Chris Lynn in the T10, and him coming off, was a huge factor.
"Having Lynn with the bat and Lasith Malinga with the ball, that is not a bad start. That is why the draft is so important.
“And at Multan Sultans, we had quite an old team and I was concerned about our fielding, but that held together really well.
“We had a couple of good things going for us. We had tons of experience, an excellent captain in Shan Masood, and we had two leg-spinners at least playing for us.”
Maybe luck has played a role. After all, he did have just one practice session with his side before the T10. And it just so happened that Lynn, as he said, was in red-hot form for that competition.
But there is clearly far more to it than that. Flower and Nathan Leamon, the analyst who is a trusted part of his support team, have a data-driven strategy designed to find an edge.
“I don’t think everyone is broadly following the same ideas,” Flower said of his commitment to analysis, before adding, “I certainly wouldn’t say that I’m ahead of anyone in particular.”
He points to the influence of Leamon and Talha Ejaz, Multan’s analysts, on their PSL success, as well as the captain Masood, and even the team’s owners.
“[Masood] had a natural bent towards analysis, and that is part of the reason the owners, Ali Tareen and Alamgir Tareen, were very keen to get Shan as captain, even though he might not be a natural T20 player,” Flower said.
“They wanted us to go into this tournament with a new and innovative way of attacking T20 cricket.
“That was heavily analysis driven, and that is why they wanted Shan as captain. I think they proved wise in their choice.
“He has the capacity to deal with a little extra information before games, during games, and after games. That was important.”
That information was often relayed to Masood from Flower and Co on the bench, in real time.
Flower was impressed with the way his captain processed all the information – even if he did not always go along with it.
We took some pretty big decisions, and there were times when I took decisions where he probably didn't agree, but he let me make them
“We took some pretty big decisions, and there were times when I took decisions where he probably didn’t agree, but he let me make them,” Masood said.
“When those decisions didn’t come off, he told me it was a learning curve.
“As a person it was something that helped me grow a lot, and is something that will always be responsible for my development.”
Flower is glad to hear that Masood felt emboldened by his time in charge of Multan, having initially found the prospect intimidating.
“Once of the tricks is blending that sort of analysis with an understanding that we are dealing with 11 human beings, and having empathy with them in a high pressure situation,” Flower said.
“It means using the information as wisely as possible, but absolutely placing the people you are working with at the centre of discussions, analysis and reviews.
“There is no way you can just input statistical information into a sports team, and out pops a result.”
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UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
MORE ON TURKEY'S SYRIA OFFENCE
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
EXPATS
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Honeymoonish
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FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Price, base: Dhs850,000
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 591bhp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.3L / 100km
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
