James Anderson has said his team-mates will back their captain Andrew Strauss in the stand-off with Kevin Pietersen. He said the primary cause for the feud was the sour relationship between Pietersen and his captain.
Although, both Strauss and Flower have stressed recently that there are other major issues involving Pietersen and the ECB, Anderson believes that the flamboyant batsman's lack of respect for the English captain is the catalyst in the whole saga.
However, Anderson made it clear that they would not have any issue if Pietersen were to make a comeback to the England set-up if the same was desired by the captain and the Board.
"Straussy has got so much respect as a captain and a leader," said Anderson.
"We very much respect his decisions - and we will back him to the hilt with whatever he and the ECB decide."
Pietersen was dropped for the Lord's Test, after failing initially to apologise for and then to divulge the detail of texts he sent to opposition players during the previous draw at Headingley.
The ECB are still trying to discover whether reports of derogatory references in the messages, to Strauss in particular, are true.
"The biggest thing is Straussy's relationship with him," added Anderson.
"That seems to have been what has come under fire in recent weeks, as well as the ECB.
"I think it is their job to sort that out. As players, we have got to take a backseat and let all that happen."
Anderson also added that he would want Strauss to continue as captain and that all the rumours surrounding his resignation following England's defeat at Lord's should be thrown in the dustbin.
"Straussy has been pivotal in everything we have achieved," he said.
"He is a huge part of our team, and bigger than people realised.
"As players, I can speak for everyone and say we hope he carries on for a few more years yet.
"When Straussy eventually decides to give up the captaincy it will be a big turning point for us, because he has been such a pivotal part of us becoming number one in the world.
"When he and Andy took over in 2009 they were huge in the fact that we shifted the way we play cricket and standards we set."
"I don't think he is considering it, the way he was this week," he said.
"It was a difficult week; it was his 100th Test match, and you could see how much he still loved being with the guys and out there.
"Now we have lost the number one spot, I am sure he is very hungry to get us back there.
"We got to number one in the world with this team, and Straussy leading this team. I don't see why we can't do it again."
England's leading pace bowler is prepared to take his share of the responsibility for their inability to contain South Africa, and for their moderate results since going to the top of the rankings for the first time a year ago.
"It was a huge wake-up call for this bowing attack," he said of the series, which ended 2-0 to the tourists. "Another thing that can detract from your performance when you get to number one is you can start believing your own hype.
"When people say you are a great bowling attack, you can start believing that. "Maybe we have got a long way to go. We have been truly outbowled, and it shows we have got a lot of work to do. "It is disappointing not to be number one in the world. But we have got to try and get our heads around it and look forward to thinking how we are going to get it back. "Perhaps we have let our standards slip, as Straussy said after the game."
Anderson is convinced, though, that England have it in them - with or without Pietersen - to reclaim that number one status.
"We have seen we have talented guys coming through," he said. "If he doesn't play Test cricket again it would be a huge loss, because he is such a devastating player, but I don't see why we can't. "We have enough talent there to get back to number one."
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