14 Riveting facts about Grant Flower

Arguably one of the greatest cricketers to emerge out of the land of Zimbabwe, Grant Flower held fort for his country over a long and glorious career. He played the role of an anchor to perfection and his left-arm orthodox style of bowling often did the trick for his team.

Here are some interesting facts about grant flower:

1. Birth and school:

Grant William Flower was born on 20 December 1970 in Salisbury, Rhodesia. He studied along with his brother Andy in North Park School where the brothers were the best cricketers.

2. Shift to spin:

Grant was always an all-rounder, but he generally bowled seam ups. It was only in high school, St. George’s College where he changed to spin bowling.

3. Qualifying for the World Cup:

At the age of only 19, Grant was part of the ICC tournament where the winner would qualify for the World Cup. Banking on Grant’s solid performances with the bat, Zimbabwe won the tournament and thus qualified for the 1992 World Cup.

4. Test debut:

Following the World Cup, Zimbabwe got promoted to the Test status. Grant featured in the one-off Test against India at Harare in 1992. He impressed with scores of 82 and 6 runs as the match ended in a draw.

5. ODI debut:

Despite missing out for the World Cup due to an injury, he made his debut against India in 1992 at Harare. He compiled a score of 34 runs before it ended and had a good fifty-run partnership opening with his brother.

6. Career best ODI score:

Grant smashed an 82-ball ton against Kenya in the tri-series final in Bangladesh. He finished with 140 which was then the second highest individual score for Zimbabwe. He later went on to better his own record as he scored a scintillating 142 not out against Bangladesh.

7. Test double century:

In 1995 in Pakistan, Grant went on to register his maiden Test ton. Hungry for more, he eventually amassed 201 runs facing a mammoth 523 balls as Zimbabwe declared their innings. To make things sweeter, they went on to win their first ever test match beating Pakistan.

8. Flower power:

Grant and brother Andy formed the mainstay of the Zimbabwean batting line-up for a long time. The duo thus earned the nickname – ‘Flower Power’ signifying their dominance.

9. Nervous nineties:

Grant accumulated 6 ODI tons in his career, but it could have been much more if not for the nervous nineties. He finished 9 times in the nineties in his ODI career which is second to only Sachin Tendulkar’s record 18 times.

10. Effective with the ball:

Flower was quite adept with the ball in hand too as he had quite the knack of picking up wickets. He finished his career with 104 wickets in the ODI format which was at that time the second in the list of the highest wicket takers for the country. Only Heath Streak had more wickets. Currently, he is third in the list.

11. Longevity of the name – Flower:

In 2003, Grant missed the Australian tour with an injury. This was the first time in 15 years that a Zimbabwean scorecard was missing the name ‘Flower’.

12. Retirement and comeback:

In 2004, he retired from international cricket and went on to play for the Essex county side. In 2010, in a shocking comeback, he was recalled to the national side. He though retired for good after only 2 games during this stint.

13. Coaching:

After retirement, he took up the role of the batting coach for Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

14. Career statistics:

In his 67-Test career, he scored 3457 runs with 6 tons. He also picked up 25 wickets in this format. In ODIs, he played 221 games and scored 6571 runs including 6 centuries. He took 104 scalps with the ball as well.

Written by Jishnu Bhattacharyya