Flower wants England batsmen to banish their spin bowling demons in Lanka tour

London, Mar 11(ANI): England coach Andy Flower has urged his batsmen to silence their critics by performing well against spin bowling during their tour to Sri Lanka.

He also warned the batsmen of the potential danger the Sri Lankan team poses, particularly on their home turf.

"It's a tough challenge, it's one of the hardest places to go and win. But that is the challenge for us now. We knew going into this year that we had a lot of subcontinent cricket. I'd like to see us improve our skills in that part of the world," The Sun quoted Flower, as saying.

Andrew Strauss' men were humiliated by Pakistan on their UAE tour, as they lost the Test series 3-0. However, the England team bounced back in the one-day series, winning it 4-0.ne of the major reasons behind England batsmen' failure in the Test series was their inability to tackle quality spin bowling of spinner Saeed Ajmal, who tormented them throughout the Test series.

Now, Flower believes they can beat Sri Lanka in the two-match series which begins later this month, but only if they have learned their lessons from the UAE tour.

"The biggest lesson we have had to learn is the skill against spin. This is going to be crucial as to how we do. If we can show what we learned from two months in the UAE, we can expect to do well," Flower said ahead of their departure to Colombo on Sunday.

He said he is confident of his experienced batsmen to adapt well in Sri Lankan conditions, and feels their performance against the Lankans would be a huge boost for them before their crucial tour to India later this year.

"It's exciting for our experienced cricketers to prove that they can adapt. We also have a very important tour to India this year and the lessons we learn in Sri Lanka will be crucial there," he said. (ANI)