Cricket: Fleming defends tour captaincy

Stephen Fleming firmly rejects suggestions his captaincy was down on its normal impeccable standard during the test series whitewash against England.

Fleming copped criticism at home and in England for what some saw as muted displays in the test series, and the feeling was only reinforced when he was seen manipulating matters at his brilliant best in the one-dayers.

On his arrival home in Wellington yesterday, Fleming took umbrage on the matter, saying it was impossible to implement plans when his test bowling attacks were leaking runs at such a high rate.

"I don't think the captaincy was that bad, you are handicapped by the way the team goes - you live by the fluctuations of the team," Fleming said.

"I was up for this test series more than anything, it was just frustrating we couldn't apply enough pressure. They were scoring too quickly.

"We worked bloody hard off the park to come up with combinations that would make us effective in the test series. Shane Bond was a big loss, he may have been able to cancel out [Stephen] Harmison."

Fleming refused to comment on the decisions to travel with 14 players when Bond and Daryl Tuffey were under injury clouds, and the inclusion of just one spinner.

"It's an unfair question because I don't have much to do with selection these days."

Fleming did concede he was concerned about the pattern of their five recent test losses, which have all come about through a lack of penetration when defending reasonably substantial fourth-innings totals.

Before the 3-0 whitewash to England, New Zealand lost tests at home last summer to Pakistan and South Africa.

"We can't brush it aside," he said. "Whether it was a skill factor or a mental factor in England was discussed at length on tour and will be discussed at length again now that we are home because there is a similar trait."

On a brighter note, Fleming is excited at the progress of the one-day unit, which extended their record winning sequence to nine consecutive matches in the final at Lord's.

It has lifted New Zealand to second-equal on the world rankings and Fleming spoke enthusiastically about tackling Australia in the Champions Trophy at the Oval in England on September 16.

- NZPA