Wednesday, September 19, 2001 Andy Flower is the man of the moment. He has become a polished player and you can see that he is full of confidence after scoring against the top bowling attacks. He is positive about everything he does. Once your confidence is that high, it doesn't matter that your technique might not be perfect. He knows which balls to leave, he is sound in defence, and plays in the V. That's enough. Using the reverse-sweep is another sign that the game holds no fears for him. Jonty Rhodes used to reverse-sweep the Sri Lankan bowlers regularly on turning wickets. It is a great way to upset a bowler's rhythm.

Flower's rise began in India when he scored a double hundred and that has given him the confidence to turn solid starts into big scores. He doesn't settle for fifties but wants hundreds. Now every time he walks to the crease Zimbabwe expect a major innings. That is the difference between a great Test player and an ordinary one: the ability to live with that expectation and keep delivering. He is free of pressure and is not concerned with the stress of playing in a Test match. Batting at the highest level has become a routine, and tomorrow is just another game. A lesser player would not be able to cope with that expectation.

This success helps the other batsmen. The opposition becomes obsessed with dismissing the form player, which allows others to bloom around him. It is also a good sign that the team is passing 400 regularly in Test cricket - that should help them save games. They are far more competitive than they were a couple of years ago.

Although batsmen save matches, bowlers win them, and that is where Zimbabwe are weak. It will still be a good contest between Zimbabwe and England in the one-day series that is coming up. But I am disappointed that Jimmy Ormond has pulled out because he impressed me in the Oval Test with his pace and control.

I remain bemused by England's winter selection policy, however. I fail to understand how they can leave out their main strike bowler Darren Gough. This business of not selecting him for New Zealand because he does not want to tour India makes little sense. He is a key bowler for England and if he decides to have a break, his wish should be respected. He has to be an automatic selection for any tour he is available for. He is not one to pull out regularly. This goes back to the point about bowlers winning matches. And no bowler is more crucial to England than Gough.

Dropping Alec Stewart is right though - it's just that England appear to have done it for the wrong reasons. Batsmen are more easily replaced than bowlers, and now that Stewart is approaching the end of his career it probably makes sense to groom his replacement. Success at international level is about adapting to circumstances. England are still too rigid in their thinking and execution.

Javed Miandad, who made over 8000 runs for Pakistan and later coached the national team, was talking to Kamran Abbasi. His column appears every Wednesday.

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