Alastair Cook praises Andy Flower for making him an England regular

Alastair Cook has praised the England coach Andy Flower for developing him into an established cricketer at international level. The Essex opener, who will captain the national side in two Tests against Bangladesh next month following Andrew Strauss's decision to skip the tour, first worked with Flower at Essex in 2002. "He [Flower] always called me maestro but he was the real class one," said Cook. "When you're a raw 19-year-old like I was, Andy had confidence in me and that rubbed off. We had a race to 1,000 runs at Essex on two occasions but he pipped me both times when I was on 999. I still owe him money. "He always wanted the younger players to do well. Looking back now, you can see that when we batted together he gave me lots of advice." Cook, 25, was appointed the England vice-captain last year and has been widely tipped eventually to replace Strauss on a full-time basis.