Zimbabwe pitch up for Test match practice at Trent Bridge today cast in the role whichrecent history has made depressingly familiar to England

Zimbabwe pitch up for Test match practice at Trent Bridge today cast in the role whichrecent history has made depressingly familiar to England. After their comprehensivedefeat at Lord's, they are the team in crisis, Andy Flower the beleaguered captain. A lengthy list of injuries is Flower's first problem as he ponders how to avoid a repeat of the first Test humiliation. The new-ball bowler Henry Olonga, who missed the Lord's Test with an ankle injury, is almost certain to be absent again, and there are doubts about Pommie Mbangwa, Bryan Strang and leg-spinner Brian Murphy.Mbangwa has sore shins and while he did not impress at Lord's he took 10 wickets in Zimbabwe's morale-boosting victory over Yorkshire last weekend.Then there is his own position to consider. By his ownadmission, Flower, as wicketkeeper, had a poor game behind the stumps in the opening Test, dropping two catches he should have taken, but he has rejected the idea of handing the gloves to the 17-year-old reserve keeper Tatenda Taibu, who kept in the Yorkshire match but struggled with the demands of a grassy pitch."I don't think this is the right time for Taibu," Flower said. "He has plenty of years ahead of him and to throw him in at the deep end now would probably not be right Lord's was a bad one for me. The ball wobbled about a lot and it coincided with me thinking about other things but it is up to me to get my game together."Obviously I have to think about captaincy decisions but I have to keep properly first and the team will benefit from that.

It is not a matter of being selfish so much as concentrating on each aspect of my responsibilities at the right time."The combination of captaincy and wicketkeeping is widely recognised as one of the most difficult tasks in cricket but Flower does not need to look far for advice. England's Alec Stewart has juggled the roles in his international career and believes Flower should persevere."Andy is a top-class cricketer and there is no reason why he should not carry on if he feels he can cope," Stewart said."There is no doubt that if the keeper performs well it can lift a team but a keeper is like goalkeepers in that if he makes a mistake it is highlighted. But Andy's record is pretty good."The important thing I find is to use your vice-captain alot to communicate with the bowler so you can focus on your keeping when you need to and keep the two things separate."Stewart, meanwhile, intends to build on the century thatsignalled a return to his best form at Lord's and even at 37 retains an ambitious streak. Omitted since last summer's World Cup, he wants to regain his place in England's one-day side for this year's triangular series."You can look at Paul Ince in the England football side," Stewart said. "He said it does not matter how old you are but how you are playing and that's about right.". The U.S. Open has been Colin Montgomerie's best major, starting with his first appearance in 1992 at Pebble Beach when no lempleted a 2-under-par 70 in a stiff wind that year and Nicklaus told him: "Congratulations on being our national champion and on your first major." The U.S.

Open has been Colin Montgomerie's best major, starting with his first appearance in 1992 at Pebble Beach when no lempleted a 2-under-par 70 in a stiff wind that year and Nicklaus told him: "Congratulations on being our national champion and on your first major." "When he said it I believed it," Montgomerie recalled Wednesday. "But Tom Kite was only on the 11th hole."Kite and Jeff Sluman both passed Montgomerie, Kite with 72 to win and Sluman a 71 to finish second.As disappointed as he was then, the Scottish world No. 3 said Wednesday he now regards that defeat as a blessing."I think it would have hurt my career if I had won. I probably wasn't ready to win a major at that stage," Montgomerie said at practice for this week's English Open, his last event before this year's Open back at Pebble in two weeks."I would have suffered having to go out knowing people were looking at me as U.S Open champion and having to perform at that level. I possibly wasn't ready to perform at that level at that time."I am now.

It was difficult to accept at the time but looking back on it now, I'm not glad I didn't win but at the same time it hasn't hurt my career not winning."Since then Montgomerie has been second twice at the U.S. Open, in 1994 when Ernie Els beat him and Loren Roberts in a playoff, then in 1997 when he lost out to Els again.He still hasn't won a major title and he is trying not to think about it - at least until the end of this week's event in central England. Montgomerie is fresh from Monday's record third successive victory in the Volvo PGA, second in prestige behind the British Open on the European Tour.He led by four shots after 36 holes in the Volvo PGA and said he expected to win. He would expect the same this week, too, against a similar field of top European players.And at the U.S Open?"If you gave me a four-shot lead, yes But not starting out My first job is to get into contention. Over the first three days, that is what I have to do."Montgomerie had hopes of overhauling world No.