Captain's ton seals Black Cap win
By Dylan Cleaver
From Stuff, 11 January 2004
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming grabbed the initiative
from Pakistan in the five-match one-day international
series yesterday with a mixture of bravura and finesse.
Hamish Marshall will take a lion's share of the plaudits
today after his breakthrough innings on New Zealand
soil of 64, but Fleming can rightly feel it was a day
where he got nearly everything right - finishing with
115 not out in the Black Caps' seven-wicket victory.
The bravura came 30 minutes before the start of play
when Fleming won the toss and inserted Pakistan under
cloudless Christchurch skies and on a pitch that looked
tailor-made for batting.
The finesse came with a polished century chasing Pakistan's
competitive, but not imposing, total of 255-9. It was
Fleming's fifth one day international hundred in his
210th match.
"It's more important that you win a game but as a batter
and as a captain it's the most rewarding thing you can
do - get a hundred on the way," Fleming said.
"I was pretty determined from when I shelled that catch
early on. I sort of spent 10 overs in reflection and
may have missed another half chance. I was determined
from that point on I was going to make amends with the
bat and be aggressive."
Fleming's single-handed exploits must have convinced
the selectors to take a conservative tack in naming
the team to play the fourth one-dayer at McLean Park,
Napier, on Wednesday.
Explosive but inconsistent allrounder Andre Adams is
the only change, coming in for Ian Butler.
"We don't feel McLean Park, with its short square boundaries,
suits Ian's bowling," coach John Bracewell explained.
"Andre . . . gives another bowling option should we
require it."
The squad will be re-selected for the final one-dayer
in Wellington on Saturday, though the retention of Craig
Cumming and Chris Cairns clearly indicates the selectors
see the New Zealand cricket talent pool as dangerously
shallow.
At Jade Stadium, Fleming marshalled his bowlers well,
managing to keep a lid on Pakistan's free-flowing bats,
though he couldn't apply a much needed handbrake in
the final five overs in which a mixture of Cairns, Daryl
Tuffey and Kyle Mills bled to the tune of 57 runs.
However, it was hard to see what could have been done
to stop the superhuman pinch-hitter Abdur Razzaq, who
caned 50 off 26 balls with four fours and three towering
sixes, one which climbed high into the second tier of
the southern stand.
To put an exclamation mark on a great day at his former
home ground, Fleming took two catches in an otherwise
sloppy New Zealand fielding effort. It took him to 101
ODI catches, ninth on the all-time list of non-wicketkeeping
fieldsmen.
If Fleming's decision to send the Pakistanis in to
bat was something of a surprise (he admitted before
the Queenstown defeat he thought his team was more comfortable
chasing), his serene innings should have come as a shock
to nobody.
He has threatened every time he has come to the crease
in this series, scoring 45 at Auckland before falling
to a top-edged pull, then chipping out softly to spinner
Shoaib Malik in the shadows of The Remarkables.
This time Fleming delivered fully, with the less spectacular
backdrop of the Cashmere Hills where he grew up. And
his old Christchurch chum Craig McMillan finished the
job with him, on 36 not out.
Fleming proved he is arguably the most graceful sheet
anchor in cricket.
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