Flower could miss tours under terms of new deal

Andy Flower's anticipated three-year deal with the England & Wales Cricket Board is expected to include a specific clause enabling him to skip tours to counter his concerns about burn-out.

The ECB are desperate to retain the services of Flower, whose meticulous approach was integral to the success of England's recent Ashes campaign. However, he is understood to be on the BCCI's short-list to replace Gary Kirsten, a role in which he could expect to double his current £250,000 salary.

According to a report in the The Mirror, Flower is reluctant to uproot his young family from their home in Stratford-upon-Avon, especially to embark on a role in which he could expect to be on the road even more than at present. However, he was highly critical of England's winter itinerary, which featured the Ashes and World Cup in quick succession, and which allowed the squad just three days at home in a five-month stretch from late-October to late-March.

At the end of the physically and emotionally draining Ashes campaign, Flower would only say about his England future that "personally I don't look much further forward than a few months". They were comments that put the ECB hierarchy on red alert, for they have been heavily criticised in the past for allowing key assets to leave the set-up for want of a firm deal, not least the Ashes-winning bowling coach Troy Cooley, who returned to his native Australia in the winter of 2005.

 The ECB's managing director Hugh Morris will meet Flower in May to discuss the winter just gone, and the likelihood is that Flower will be permitted to sit out a selection of future tours to ensure he is in peak condition for the key challenges in the coming seasons. The anticipated three-year deal will include two Ashes campaigns but not the 2015 World Cup, and a precedent has already been set with England's captain Andrew Strauss missing the 2009-10 tour of Bangladesh.

"I do fear for Andy," said England's former captain, Michael Vaughan. "The last thing you'd want is to risk him passing on the reins because the job involves so much time away. It's important to keep him fresh. But you look at the guys with young families and they are the ones who are going to be affected. I couldn't do the touring they do now."

Meanwhile, India are expected to tour West Indies in June without a full-time replacement for Kirsten. The former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming is one of the front-runners on their short-list, with a permanent replacement likely to be named ahead of the tour of England in July. On their last tour of England in 2007, India won the Test series 1-0, despite having no permanent coach in place.