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.
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