Captain Calm ready for storm
By Richard Boock
From the New Zealand Herald, 8 October 2003
Behind the door of Room 328 at
the Hotel Ummed, Stephen Fleming might as well be sitting
cross-legged and humming.
There is an air of calm about the
New Zealand captain's room that belies the chaos outside
as this cricket-mad state in a cricket-mad country prepares
for the first test at Gujarat Stadium.
Cows, camels, goats and pigs are
vying for space in the streets, the din from the traffic
is constant, the stench downtown indescribable. But
Fleming is calm and peaceful as he eyes what must be
the toughest challenge in world cricket.
The confidence and strategy doubts
have vanished, swept away by his match-winning century
against South Africa in the World Cup and his phenomenal
276 not out in the first test against Sri Lanka.
It is as if he has reached his
ashram, his spiritual home, a place where the ghosts
of his earlier career have been exorcised to make room
for a far more positive approach.
"Yeah, it is coming together for
me now," Fleming said.
"It's pretty close, it's my time
I think. The state I've found myself in feels good,
and I think a few others in the team are getting to
that stage as well. It's just experience and maturity.
"We've got a better grasp on what's
required, and the challenges aren't quite as daunting."
Since starting to turn the corner
in late 2001, when he scored a century against Australia
at Perth, Fleming has made notable progress with his
own game, adding another series-deciding century against
the West Indies at Bridgetown before the outstanding
effort in Colombo.
His form flowed over into county
cricket with Yorkshire, where although his 39.04 first-class
average was only moderate, he played freely and far
more aggressively than he had before in his career.
He was explosive in one-day games
for Yorkshire, with a strike-rate of 104.01.
The only slight concern was the
tendency to perish of his own hand, something that followed
him into the warm-up game at Rajkot last week, when
he looked in particularly good form, then dragged a
harmless delivery back on to his stumps.
But with the test starting today,
he says there is no anxiety over the approach or method
he will adopt.
"I had a great net yesterday for
a couple of hours and have just got into a nice state
of mind, which you look for in a tour. I'm champing
at the bit to be honest.
"I've been looking for more discipline
in my batting at training, but now its test-match time
I'll just let it happen. I score quickly, I score quickly.
Fleming said a decision on the
test XI would be made this morning, and would most likely
involve a discussion on whether to play Ian Butler or
Paul Wiseman, or to play both and omit a batsman.
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