No respect for West Indies "Flintoff"

West Indies in England 2009

Bulletin by Shwe Wai

	England don't appear too concerned about Andrew Flintoff's absence for the West Indies series despite their recent defeat

Even after beating them, we're still not respected.

He may have very different and quite effective ways of motivating his charges, but if John Dyson is looking for something to really get the West Indies players focussed and worked up ahead of the two Tests against England next month, highlighting the comments of Hugh Morris last week in relation to Andrew Flintoff might not be such a bad idea.

When the news broke that England's premier all-round cricketer and talismanic figure was cutting short his already truncated but very well-paid commitments with the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League due to a knee injury, this is what Morris, the former Glamorgan and England opening batsman and now managing director of cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said:

"Andrew has been extremely unlucky with injuries but if there is one saving grace it is that the injury has occurred now rather than on the eve of either the ICC World Twenty20 or the Ashes. Having the surgery now means that Flintoff should be available for both those events although he is certain to miss the Test series against the West Indies."

You know, you would think that after losing the four-Test series in the Caribbean a few weeks ago 1-0-a result that confounded most very confident forecasts, both English and West Indian-anyone speaking on behalf of English cricket would have the sense to at least pretend that the regional team is worthy of some consideration as a competitive outfit and should not be simply overlooked again.

Look, even if they don't mean it and are saying it just for public relations and mamaguile sake, surely the West Indies, by virtue of their performances at home against the same opponents, are worthy of some acknowledgement in light of the fact that they will go into the opening encounter at Lord's next Wednesday as holders of the Wisden Trophy.