EAST LONDON, South Africa, 15 March 2003 — Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak is adamant his team will beat Sri Lanka in their final World Cup match here today and they will dedicate victory to star batsman Andy Flower. “Andy’s been a great servant of Zimbabwean cricket,” said Streak. “He’s a world-class batsman, his record speaks for itself. He’s up there with the legends of cricket.”
The left-hander has already stated that he will retire from international cricket when his country’s World Cup campaign comes to an end — that will be today here at Buffalo Park with Zimbabwe already out of the running for a semifinal spot.
“It’s sad that it’s Andy’s last game, but we’d like the game to be a tribute to him and hopefully we’ll be able to pull off a win,” Streak said. Flower, along with teammate Henry Olonga, was involved in a high-profile black armband protest against Robert Mugabe’s regime and was threatened with being dropped from the World Cup squad if he didn’t abandon his protest. Flower will play for Essex later this year. Streak acknowledged that outside factors made playing cricket in Zimbabwe difficult. “It hasn’t been simple,” he said.
Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore was also full of praise for Flower. “He was the international player of the year a couple of years ago, but he hasn’t done that well the past 12 months or so,” Whatmore said. “But he’s still a world class player with all the strokes.”
