Cricket: Fleming calls in old mate as fielding coach

Stephen Fleming. Photo / Getty Images

It was only a couple of frames of television footage last week but the bristling handlebar moustache was unmistakable.

Steve Rixon was ensconced in a Chennai Super Kings canary yellow and royal blue trim uniform on the boundary bench in the Indian Premier League.

The significance of the 56-year-old's presence was plain.

Chennai's coach Stephen Fleming still trusts him, almost 11 years on from the end of his coaching tenure with the Black Caps when the team last won a test series in England.

It was a time when New Zealand Cricket was on a rise that included a semifinal appearance at the 1999 World Cup.

Rixon is charged with improving the Super Kings' fielding this campaign.

"It has been below-par so I'm out there belting balls, working these guys hard. Flem came to me at just the right time and said 'I'd love to have you here'. It was when New Zealand Cricket was looking for a new coach, so I had to consider that, but the rest is history. I'd spent the previous six months in limbo with the ICL [Indian Cricket League as coach of the Hyderabad Heroes], looking at a few possibilities.

The decision hasn't stopped Rixon analysing Fleming in his new role.

"Stephen's got a big future as a coach because he's a well-structured person. He's quick to formulate a plan, which is a real balancing act in the IPL when you're catering for a significant number in your squad who aren't playing at any one time."

Rixon says that's been made easier having a company - Indian Cements - as owner rather than Bollywood actors because the company doesn't interfere too much.

Having said that, Rixon has been overawed at times with the IPL fan base.

"You can't hear when you're out in the middle of a ground. It's complete bedlam and that's just during the warm-ups. I have sympathy for captains trying to get a player's attention and umpires trying to make decisions on faint edges outside off stump. The place bubbles but to see people coming in droves is healthy for the game."

This latest move continues a fascinating cricketing existence for the former Australian wicketkeeper. He first wore the baggy green cap in 1977 when Rod Marsh was in World Series Cricket exile.

Since then, he has coached New Zealand, New South Wales and Surrey and is honorary president at Sydney's Sutherland club. Incidentally, the club, based at the Glenn McGrath Oval, is the current home of former Black Cap Andre Adams.

Rixon works part-time for NSW Cricket and Macquarie Bank. He enjoys choosing his interests, especially after being offered a job in the IPL, but won't rule out coaching one of two new franchises set to join next year.

"If I get offered one of the top jobs, I'd take it. Flem knows that. The respect hasn't changed between us. He knows I won't undermine him and we're up-front with each other. We've always made a good partnership and I've still been involved talking to the players, doing those things that come naturally as a senior coach.

"I've lost none of my passion for the game and I'm sure there will be a warning when my energy levels get sapped and it's time for me to give it away. That hasn't happened yet and I'm still finding time for fishing."