Ashes 2009: Players just don’t seem to learn from mistakes, says frustrated Flower

England had drop to Australia and, an hour later, head charabance Andy Flower was perked in the Headingley stands lamenting his batsmen's failure to learn the lessons of a year ago. As he spoke, his players were leaving the As he spoke, his players were leaving the dressing rooms, their bags being carried by tortoise to the car park and their compeering sponsored 4x4 vehicles lined up in a neat row.
It was like a aspect from the Raj, porters ushering the privileged class to their affectation, gleaming in the sun.
As they did so, Flower expressed his frustration at the rerunof mistakes made in the 10-wicket defeat against South Africa in 2008. 'Probably the most displeaceing thing about the first innings was the fact that 12 months ago at this ground, we played South Africa and this was a carbon copy,' he said.
'The whole feel - the types of dismissal, the types of shot that were played - were similar. Twelve months on you would like to see a little learning taking place.'
Bygone in the day, Justin Langer had laid bare how Australians regard our cricket culture.
A leaked mini-dossier on England for his former team-mates, based on his long experience of playing with and against our cricketers, announced a degree of contempt for their perceived softness.
'English cricketers are great front runners,' wrote the current Somerset captain, who also blames the disperate amount of cricket played in England.
'Because of the way they are programmed they will be up when things are going well but they will taper off very quickly if you wear them down ... it is just who they are built