Edgy Fleming seeks overdue time at crease
From The New Zealand Herald, 24 October 2003
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming
is wondering when his time will come for a long overdue
big innings on the cricket tour of India.
His frustration adds to the New
Zealand camp as medical staff race to have allrounder
Chris Cairns ready for Wednesday's second tri-series
match against Australia.
Cairns' hamstring strain was the
only physical scar for the tourists from the washed
out series opener against India here yesterday, but
there were a few mental ones.
All New Zealand's seven bowlers
took some punishment as India racked up 141 for three
off 26.5 overs before the thunderstorm hit.
The touring batsmen also missed
out on a valuable hitout back in one-day colours as
they eye the big match against Australia in Faridabad,
just outside Delhi.
As he boarded the team bus bound
for Chennai's infamous rush hour traffic, Fleming seemed
irked about the six-day break before their next match
without having the chance to build up any momentum.
"We're better off for it without
any damage but we could have done better," he said.
"The guys are very eager, and now
with another break it would've been nice to get straight
back into it."
The players will have optional
training as they relax at the nearby Fisherman's Cove
resort until Monday when they fly to Delhi.
An edgy Fleming though is anxious
to keep batting as he seeks an elusive score of 30-plus
from five tour innings to date.
In a year where he has risen to
new heights with a test best 274 not out against Sri
Lanka and a match winning 134 not out against South
Africa at the World Cup, Fleming's tour scores here
have been 27 and three against India A then one, eight
and 30 in the drawn test series.
"I work better when I keep training
or playing so I'll be hitting balls.
"It'd be nice to get a bat at some
point and just wondering when the next substantial innings
will be."
Cairns, who was playing his 168th
match yesterday, also has a degree of angst as he battles
another injury which will be reassessed over the weekend.
He skittled Virender Sehwag for
31 with his sixth ball of a useful spell, but then pulled
up lame after his third over and never returned.
"It's a shame and it's the most
frustrating for Cairnsy. What he was delivering was
pretty good, and he's been pretty excited about getting
out there," Fleming said.
There was still confidence Cairns
would be fit to line up against his favoured opponents
on Wednesday.
Scott Styris and Daniel Vettori
were the other wicket-takers in their first overs but
it was clear how tough the series would be on the bowlers.
Comeback kid Paul Hitchcock went
for 14 off his first over while pace men Daryl Tuffey
and Jacob Oram erred slightly and were punished.
On a dream batting pitch, Sachin
Tendulkar took few risks and comfortably moved to 48
not out while VVS Laxman cracked a quick 25 and Yuvraj
Singh was winding into gear on 29.
"We bowled too many four balls
and didn't really carry the disciplines of the test
bowling into the one-day stuff," Fleming said.
"That comes with a little bit of
pressure as well. We haven't played one-day cricket
for a while so there's adjustment to be made."
Australia, meanwhile, open their
tournament against India in Gwalior on Sunday.
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