England captain Andrew Strauss proved he is the right man to lead Test team, says coach Andy Flower What Flower also feels is paying dividends is the tireless work he and Graham Gooch have put in to improve the batsmen against spin on slow, turning pitches. While the bowlers of all creeds have been excellent throughout, the batsmen have consistently fallen short, at least until the last Test where a combination of solid batting and Kevin Pietersen's blitzkrieg of 151 set up a winning position. Before that, especially against Pakistan, it was an embarrassment but from that low base, something more robust appears to have taken root. "It has been a tough winter," Flower admitted. We lost 3-0 against Pakistan and we were one down here. But our focus and determination has never wavered. It's also been very satisfying to watch the guys learn and take those lessons learned in practice out into the middle. If coping in Asia has been addressed by England's batsmen, it has not yet been cracked. Sri Lanka's spinners, Rangana Herath and Suraj Randiv, are not as talented as Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, Pakistan's spinners, but England still fell for their chicanery in Galle. Improvements were made and they duly coped much better in Colombo, giving hope that a Test series against India, after a summer back against seam swing, might not be so trying after all. "We aren't the finished article playing against spin just because we won one Test in the subcontinent," Flower said. It's very obvious where we've fallen short this winter and that's the specific area we must continue building on. We also need to pass on those lessons to younger English cricketers so that when they are playing international cricket they don't make the same mistakes. Flower believes the present top order, which in the two Tests against Sri Lanka included Samit Patel, has the potential to score "heavy" runs in India, but would not confirm that it would remain intact for the Test series against the West Indies, which begins on May 17 at Lord's. He did however praise Patel, who he has criticised in the past over his blasé attitude to fitness. "Not one player owns a position in the batting order," Flower said. There were difficult selections to make here in both Tests but I thought Samit handled himself well. He didn't score any runs in Galle, but I thought he batted really nicely here and if some of our lower order had stayed with him he might have gone on to greater things. The sapping heat and humidity in Sri Lanka were powerful foes to England, but while many of Strauss's team are heading home for some well-earned rest, Pietersen and possibly Broad, if he can recover from his calf strain in time, are heading off to the Indian Premier League. Flower appears phlegmatic about the players" involvement - maybe because last time they had a decent rest, three months either side of last Christmas, they ended up losing three Tests in a row. "My priority now is getting the guys ready for the West Indies series," Flower said. Broad is contracted to his IPL side so if he's fit he'll play IPL, come back and play a first-class game prior to the West Indies series. If he's not, he won't go. Four winter lessons Scrap the sweep The shot caused untold problems when played off straight deliveries on slow pitches. It should stay in storage. Anderson is world-class England's opening bowler took his game to a new level. There is none better. Discipline is key It is no coincidence that England's most consistent batsmen - Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott - were the most patient. The rest, take note. Being No 1 is tough Getting to the summit might have been hard, but staying there will be even harder.