The repercussions of the Ashes flogging England received in Australia, and which has spilled into the limited overs series, were bound to be felt for a long time.
Such monumental thrashing brings with it the usual fare of tattered careers and firing squads.
For England, off-spinner Graeme Swann said he had had enough, while batsman Jonathan Trott left after the first Test itself without giving much details.
But there was still one more member of the squad who had to pay the price for the loss. It was a toss-up between captain Alastair Cook, mercurial batsman Kevin Pietersen and coach Andy Flower.
It turned out to be the coach. Cook has been the captain for some time now and with the World Cup next year, it would not have been ideal to have a new man in charge.
Pietersen doesn’t have many supporters in his country, and maybe even in his team, but the fact remains he is their most prolific batsman and even while batting poorly was the top-scorer in the Ashes defeat.
So that left us with Flower. After the urn was surrendered by the third Test, talks had veered towards the stagnation in the English set-up.
However, during that very period, Flower took on a confrontational approach and talked about cracking the whip. Instead of looking to stabilise his own position, Flower went about seeking support for his vision.
But that plan failed and we now have Flower working as a selector for now, having stepped down as head coach.
He must have been nudged by someone higher up to contemplate the move and it is only fair, as it has been as much a failure of his ideas – like having quicks like Chris Tremlett, Boyd Rankin and Steve Finn and using them mostly as drinks carriers – as it has been of the English players.
There is no doubt that Flower has contributed immensely to England’s game and oversaw them clinching the 2010 World T20, triple Ashes win, a series victory in India and the world No1 Test ranking.
But equally evident has been the reluctance to change strategies once cracks began to appear in the team structure in 2012 and the team began to wobble in the field last year.
He took England to great heights but Flower’s coaching tenure ended on an unsavoury note. And unfortunately, that’s what he will be remembered for.
