The Lucknow franchise of the IPL has confirmed Andy Flower as the head coach for their debut campaign in 2022. Flower is the first appointment on the coaching staff by the Lucknow franchise after they got permission from the BCCI to make the announcement.
Sanjiv Goenka, the RPSG Group chair and the owner of the Lucknow franchise, confirmed Flower’s appointment on social media: ‘As a player and a coach Andy has left an indelible mark in the history of cricket. We respect his professionalism and hope he will work with our vision and add value to our team’. The RPSG Group bought the Lucknow team for INR 7090 crores in August.
Flower worked as the assistant coach in the last two IPL seasons at Punjab Kings. He was in charge of England when they were top-ranked Test side about a decade ago. He also helped England win the 2010 World T20, their maiden ICC trophy. With the ECB, he has worked in various coaching roles for 12 years, and guided them to win two Ashes campaigns, home and away.
Flower, a veteran of 63 Test matches for Zimbabwe, of which he aggregated 4,794 runs at an average of 51.54, also helped St Lucia Kings to two CPL finals, in 2020 and 2021. He worked as the Afghanistan Men consultant at the T20 World Cup last month in the UAE and Oman.