Cairns gets royal salute after Fleming ton

From Stuff, 11 June 2004

NOTTINGHAM: Stephen Fleming vowed to score a century for his mate Chris Cairns and it all went perfectly to script in the third cricket test in England overnight.

Fleming dedicated his seventh test ton to Cairns, who spent the entire day on the Trent Bridge players' balcony on the first day of his farewell to test cricket as New Zealand reached 295 for four.

After reaching three figures on the way to 117, Fleming directed a prolonged salute to the pavilion and pretended to break his bat across his knee.

"I'm not sure what I was doing to be honest. Just getting there was exciting," Fleming said after falling short for 97 in the second test at Headingley.

"Obviously friends and family, (partner) Kelly, but Chris Cairns is one person I singled out in this test.

"I said it to him last night it'd be great on his stage to perform well for him one last time.

"Emotionally I was pretty happy to do that because he's a very good mate and I want to see him off in the right way."

Trailing 0-2 in the series, Fleming said the pre-match talk revolved around a memorable win to farewell Cairns in his 62nd and final test at his former home county.

"There's a lot to play for and we've got a number of motivating factors. It's Chris Cairns' last game, it's certainly emotional for guys who've played a lot with him."