'We want to win against Lanka as a tribute to Andy'
Friday, March 14 2003 16:50 Hrs (IST)

East London: Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak is adamant his team will beat Sri Lanka in its final World Cup match here on Saturday and it 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 Saturday here at Buffalo Park with Zimbabwe already out of the running for a semi-final 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 the regime of President Robert Mugabe and was threatened with being dropped from the World Cup squad if he didn't abandon his protest.

Flower will play for Essex in the English county championship later this year.

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."

Copyright AFP 2001

Extras:
I'm quitting, no regrets about Mugabe protest: Flower