India's revenge? It's enough to make
a sick skipper laugh
By Richard Boock
From the New Zealand Herald, 6 September 2003
It says something that Stephen
Fleming, crook with the flu, catatonic with jet-lag
and still jumping on and off aircraft, can raise the
energy to laugh.
But he has just been asked to consider
the likely pitch conditions in India this month, when
New Zealand arrive for a return series that includes
two tests and a limited overs tri-series
New Zealand destroyed India at
home last summer on pitches so green that off-spinner
Harbhajan Singh described them as "gardens," and NZ
Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden called for an
inquiry.
Not surprisingly, India have been
eagerly awaiting New Zealand's reciprocal tour, and
several commentators and players have warned that the
visitors will find conditions stacked against them.
Fleming was feeling under the weather
when he arrived back on Wednesday after finishing his
stint with county side Yorkshire, and had less than
a day's grace before flying to Christchurch for a national
squad training camp.
But he couldn't help spluttering
with laughter as he considered the prospect of playing
an Indian side in anything but extremely unfavourable
conditions.
"I can't understand some of the
comment, to be honest," he said. "It's as if they're
saying, 'Wait till we get you over here. We're going
to prepare slow, dry, turning tracks.' Well, what's
new?
"It was that sort of attitude that
made me laugh last summer. The conditions here weren't
good - they were extreme - but considering India's history
of pitch preparation, they didn't have a lot to complain
about."
Fleming said New Zealand were a
resilient side who had climbed the test-ranking ladder
through their ability to adjust to foreign conditions
and make the best use of the resources at hand.
He cited the success in the West
Indies and on the more recent tour of Sri Lanka as evidence
of the team's growing ability to be a threat abroad.
"There seems to be a real determination
from India to make it as hard as possible for us, after
what happened here last summer.
"If that's the case we'll respond
pretty well because there's a lot of character within
the side.
"The good news for us is that conditions
shouldn't be overly different to Sri Lanka, where we
learned a lot on our last tour - especially in terms
of combating slow bowling, and developing our own. We've
a taken a bit of confidence from that."
New Zealand first toured India
in 1955-56. They have been back six times since, but
have never managed to win a series.
Out of 24 tests played in India,
New Zealand have won only twice: in 1969 at Nagpur and
in 1988 at Mumbai, when coach-in-waiting John Bracewell
took six for 51.
"It's the toughest tour you can
go on, and at the same time it has the possibility of
being one of the most rewarding," Fleming said.
"We haven't done very well over
there in the past, but that always excites me because
there's the chance to create some history."
Fleming played tidily for Yorkshire,
averaging 39.08 in first-class play and 47.50 in one-dayers.
His one-day runs came at an impressive
strike-rate of 104.01.
He did not score as heavily as
he would have liked, but still felt good about his form,
playing so well that runs were almost coming too quickly
for his own good.
"I was still getting into really
good positions and putting the ball away.
"But with it came a desire to score
quicker and accelerate, so I'm finding that I'm having
to calm myself down."
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