London: Former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower fears they will struggle to beat amateurs Ireland at the World Cup because of so many exits of star players.

Flower, 38, retired from international cricket after the last World Cup when he and black teammate Henry Olonga staged a protest against the Zimbabwe government by wearing black armbands.

He then fled to England to live, fearing recriminations for his actions. He has since played for County side Essex and is now with them on a pre-season trip to Dubai.

“There is some talent in the Zimbabwe team but they are very inexperienced at that level and they’re really going to struggle in the World Cup,” Flower said.

A slew of key players followed Flower and Olonga into international retirement, because of a combination of internal cricket board politics and government policies.

“I don’t like saying these things but that’s what happens when the best players are no longer around. They will even find it a difficult game against Ireland.”

Flower is in no doubt that if the players from 2003 were still together and backed by a supportive cricket board, the team would be able to stage one or two upsets.

“I wish everyone was still playing,” Flower said. “We should still be playing and it’s a great pity that we’re not but sadly it’s unavoidable the way things are.

“There’s no doubt that we could still be competitive. We would be a very experienced team by now. We wouldn’t have had the turnover of personnel like other teams have had because our pool of players is that much less.

“With that experience we would also have filtered in some youth and by now we could have had a nice balance but the way it is there is no balance, just youth.”