Andrew “Andy” Flower

Andrew “Andy” Flower (born 28 April 1968 in Cape Town, South Africa) was a cricket player for Zimbabwe. He made his international debut in a one-day international against Sri Lanka at New Plymouth, New Zealand in the 1992 cricket World Cup. He was Zimbabwe’s wicket-keeper for over 10 years and arguably the finest batsman the country has ever fielded.

Nearing the end of his career, Flower achieved international recognition (along with team mate Henry Olonga) in 2003 by wearing a black armband in a Cricket World Cup match to protest against the policies of Zimbabwe’s government, led by Robert Mugabe. He and Olonga released a statement on 10 February, stating in part:
In all the circumstances, we have decided that we will each wear a black armband for the duration of the World Cup. In doing so we are mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe. In doing so we are making a silent plea to those responsible to stop the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. In doing so, we pray that our small action may help to restore sanity and dignity to our Nation.

This act led to pressure from Zimbabwe’s government and Flower’s retirement from Zimbabwean cricket. Flower had always been a keen student of Zimbabwean history, and is now arguably a significant part of that subject. He later played an English county cricket season for Essex and an Australian domestic season for South Australia.

Flower played 63 Test matches for Zimbabwe, scoring 4,794 runs at an average of 51.54 and taking 151 catches and 9 stumpings, and 213 one-day internationals, scoring 6,786 runs at an average of 35.34 and taking 141 catches and 32 stumpings. He holds the Zimbawean records for the most Test career runs, the highest Test batting average, and most ODI career runs.