Andy Flower has just returned from a season playing county cricket for Essex, during which he scored 1151 first-class runs at an average of 50.04 and completed 36 dismissals, mainly behind the stumps. He spoke to ZCO about his experience.

Andy Flower's Essex experience began with a phone call from Graham Gooch when Zimbabwe were playing in Sharjah late in 2001. Gooch was simply enquiring as to whether Andy was interested in playing for Essex. "My initial response was `Bloody right I would'," Andy says.

Andy had given me the impression in previous years that he might at that stage have been a little wary of playing county cricket for fear of becoming stale, but he now corrects that view. "What I have said is that I can understand why some people do get stale playing that amount of cricket," he says. "But certainly I have always wanted to play a season of county cricket."

After that initial contact by Gooch, confirmation came `very quickly', and the deal was signed. Andy, with his wife Becky and their two children, headed off to England in early April 2000, arriving just in time for a warm-up match against Cambridge University.

"I got a really good welcome from Essex," Andy says. "Alan Lilley, the operations manager, picked us up at the airport and whipped us up to Chelmsford, where Goochie and David East, the chief executive, were waiting. They had organized us a house and cars, so it was a really nice welcome to Essex.

"Then we got into the playing side pretty much straight away. The Essex crowd made me feel very welcome, and that's going down from David East through the coaching staff of Gooch and John Childs, and the skipper Ronnie Irani, who has become a good friend of mine. They made me feel very welcome and soon I felt comfortable in the set-up. That translated into a successful season for us all."

Andy's difference of opinion with Essex wicket-keeper James Foster during England's tour of Zimbabwe a year ago received a lot of publicity but, as expected, there were no on-going relationship problems between the two. "We got on very well," Andy says. "He's a good bloke, a good cricketer."

It had been anticipated that Foster would be England's wicket-keeper during 2002, and that while he was playing for his country Andy would keep wicket, giving up the gloves on the odd occasions when Foster was released to play for the county. But before the first match Foster broke his arm in the nets, which threw those plans into disarray.

"Goochie was pretty clear on that topic," Andy says. "He made it clear that if Foster was fit then he would want him to keep wicket, and I would play exclusively as a batsman. Which was fine by me."

Andy was only too happy to keep, as he did, for most of the season. "I did some really good work with Paul Farbrace, who used to keep for Kent and Middlesex. He was excellent to work with, and he helped me with my keeping a lot." Another indication that Andy, despite being one of the world's great cricketers, does not consider himself to be the completed article but is humble enough to acknowledge he is still learning in some areas. "I enjoyed keeping through the season; it was a good challenge and it was good fun."

Playing at Chelmsford no doubt brought back happy memories for Andy of Zimbabwe's victory there over South Africa in the World Cup of 2000. All reports emanating from Essex suggested that Andy fitted in superbly right from the start; one source was quoted as saying that no overseas player had fitted in better than Andy in what he gave to the club.

Andy seems slightly bemused at these reports and unable to explain them. "Maybe going out for a few drinks with the younger boys - I dunno," he smiles. Certainly his guidance of the younger players was mentioned as one of his attributes. "It probably relates to working and doing throw-downs with some of my mates and doing throw-downs with them, having a drink with them - whatever it might be.

"There wasn't much time for off-the-field involvement in the club, to be honest," he says. "There was very little interaction with sponsors or with any of the junior coaching teams - which surprised me; I thought there would be more. But because of the playing load and the limited free time you had, you don't really get involved in anything other than playing and training."

The Essex dressing room is well known for its characters. "We've heard some stories from the early days of when David East, Goochie, Derek Pringle and those sort of guys were involved there," Andy says. "Steve Andrew - I met him a few times, and it really was a changing room full of characters. In our changing room last year the captain Ronnie Irani is a larger than life character; he's a bit of a legend in those circles and he leads from the front with his heart on his sleeve. It's great to play cricket with him.

"We have a nice assortment of people there; no huge megastars, except for Nasser Hussain, when he's around - but he's not around much. Our guys gel together well and want to do well for their captain and their coach."

What does Andy feel about his personal form during that year? A man who sets the highest standards for himself, he admits, "I don't think it was as good as it could have been. I only scored two hundreds in first-class cricket and I think I should have done a lot better. In the one-day stuff I was pretty consistent, and I was quite happy with my form there; I averaged about 50 over the season. I think that was good, and I made some telling contributions with the bat, but I'd like to score more centuries this coming season."

What were Andy's most memorable matches? "There were a few," he replies. "We had a number of big run chases to win games - one at Gloucester where we chased about 380 to win. Darren Robinson got about 170, a superb innings. Another match where Northamptonshire in their first innings scored 630 and we won the game, chasing about 300 to win on the last day. I got unbeaten hundreds (well, 103 and 92) in both innings.

"Beating Yorkshire in the Benson and Hedges at Chelmsford was a sensational day for us. There were many good wins and it was an extraordinary season for us. It was good fun, and I'm looking forward to the prospect of going back next season."

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