Outstanding in his field
From The Southland Times, 19 February 2004
For too many years, the significant talking point of
New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming's career
wasn't his flamboyant cover drive or his inspired captaincy.
It was his inability to convert 50s into hundreds. Focused
individual that he is, Fleming will have kept his distance
from the chattering hordes on radio talkback but, even
so, the lack of big scores must have played on the talented
left-hander's mind. In a game that is as much about
mental discipline as it is about technique, little blips
on a player's career chart can fester into self-fulfilling
prophecies and form slumps.
Not that the New Zealand Cricket hierarchy ever lost
faith in their man. He is widely regarded by international
commentators as the most astute and intuitive tactician
in the game, and on his day there isn't a more elegant
strokemaker. Most would have believed that sooner or
later Fleming's run floodgates would burst open. They
did in February last year, against South Africa at the
World Cup in Johannesburg, when Fleming scored his first
one-day century as an opening batsman. Since then the
runs have flowed in a torrent.
He followed up two months later with a test match score
of 274 not out against Sri Lanka, a staggering feat
of endurance achieved in oppressive heat and humidity
in Colombo. That innings, the second highest in New
Zealand test history behind Martin Crowe's 299 against
Sri Lanka in 1990-91, was also remarkable because Fleming
unselfishly stuck to his own game plan and declared
his team's innings closed while he was well in sight
of the first ever test triple-century by a Kiwi. That
showed a strength of character, as well as concentration,
that has been a hallmark of the New Zealand skipper's
game, especially in the past 12 months.
Fleming's matchwinning 108 against the Proteas at Jade
Stadium on Tuesday night was his sixth one-day international
century in 214 matches. One each of the six occasions
he has made it into triple figures New Zealand has won,
proving that with a major contribution from a top-order
batsman the Black Caps are capable of beating any team
in international one-day cricket. With his free-scoring
opening partner Nathan Astle out through injury, Fleming
has assumed the responsibility of anchoring the New
Zealand innings and building winning partnerships, demonstrating
steel as well as style.
His chanceless, majestic knock against South Africa
on Tuesday was a pleasure to watch, inviting comparisons
with the great English left-hander David Gower whose
elegance and impeccable timing transcended the stuffy
statistical analysis that is so much a part of cricket.
Fleming played shots all around the ground and, like
any good left-hander, was clinical in putting away on
the leg side any ball bowled into his pads. But, typically,
it was his off-side strokeplay that was the more distinguished
and spectacular. Whether standing tall on the back foot
to punch waist-high deliveries through to the point
boundary or sending the ball like a tracer across the
Canterbury outfield with free-flowing cover drives,
Fleming's shot selection was intuitive and his execution
masterful. Even his slight mis-hits carried for six
on a night in which he became the first New Zealander
to score 6000 runs in one-day internationals.
Fleming has long since shaken off that unfortunate "choker"
tag that devilled him for a large chunk of his career.
It seems almost disrespectful now to use the word about
a player with such class whose career is moving on a
trajectory traversed by only the greats of the game.
Watching Fleming at work now -- cool, decisive and supremely
confident in both his decision-making and his batting
-- it is apparent he now knows that he is capable of
taking apart any attack in world cricket. The New Zealand
team is following enthusiastically in its captain's
large footsteps. Long may it continue.
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