Fleming poses a challenge

From NZOOM, 13 September 2002

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has challenged his side to maintain their recent stranglehold over Australia when the two teams go head-to-head in the Champions Trophy on Monday.

New Zealand lost just once in seven matches to Australia on their recent tour, dumping the hosts out of the one-day tri-series finals series, only the third time that has happened since the competition started in 1979-80.

But Fleming is fully aware Australia will be out for revenge in a match that should decide which one of them qualifies for the semi-finals given the third team in the pool are minnows Bangladesh.

"Any areas that Australia felt we exposed during the VB Series will have been remedied pretty quickly," Fleming told Reuters on Thursday. "If we just go into the game taking satisfaction in having competed well in Australia we are going to get beaten.

"The challenge for us now is to get better still and try and expose other areas, and with Australia that's not always easy.

"What it will come down to is the execution of our plans and making sure we keep putting the pressure on the Australian batsmen and bowlers. Whoever plays the game under the most pressure will lose."

New Zealand are without all-rounders Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan. Cairns is absent with a long-term knee injury and is expected to be sidelined until November, while McMillan opted out of the trip in the wake of the aborted tour of Pakistan that was cut short following a bomb blast outside the team's hotel.

Both were key members of the side that won the event when it was known as the ICC knock-out, in Kenya in October 2000, but although Fleming admits their absence is a blow, he is still optimistic about New Zealand's prospects.

"The beauty of this tournament is that it is basically a one-off game and in a two-horse race you've got to fancy your chances," he said.

"That excites us and suits our cricket as we have got the players who can turn it on, on the day.

"Cairns leave a big hole as he is a quality player who gives us all-round balance and McMillan has made a life decision in terms of the experience in Pakistan and we respect that.

"The positive side is that we have been developing a couple of youngsters in Scott Styris and Jacob Oram and they have offered us quite a lot. It's been a bonus to blood those guys with a World Cup coming up."

All-time high

Fleming goes into the event with his reputation as a captain at an all-time high after Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was quoted as describing him as the "probably the best captain in world cricket."

"I'm flattered especially as it comes from such a great player as Shane Warne," said Fleming modestly before adding with a smile, "I'm sure he'll be meaning the best captain outside Australia, that was how it was supposed to come out.

"Whenever anyone says that about your captaincy it's nice and it's a welcome compliment. All I do is just try to take a piece from every captain around the world and I'm always watching, always learning how they are doing things.

"I try to make sure it's not just from cricket I try to draw from as cross-pollenation from other sports can work in our game too.

"Cricket is such a traditionally-based game and a lot of the things we do are just for the sake of it rather than to get any better, they don't serve a purpose.

"I'm very much into trying to get guys to experiment with new things," Fleming said.

New Zealand continued their preparations for Monday's match with a practice outing against Zimbabwe on Friday, winning comfortably after Mathew Sinclair scored a century.

Their only injury worry is seamer Paul Hitchcock, who injured his right elbow in a practice match against South Africa on Wednesday.

[Articles]