Cricket: Fleming double century rocks SA

The smile says it all as Stephen Fleming glides his way to a test ton. Picture / Reuters

Stephen Fleming will be hoping to evoke the memory of Hubert "Nummy" Deane over the next couple of days as New Zealand seek to further exploit a controversial decision from South African skipper Graeme Smith.

Fresh from his unbeaten century on the first day of the second test, the New Zealand captain was (on 207 at tea last night, following Smith's shock decision to bowl first, the first man to do so at Newlands since Deane's effort against England in 1928.

Smith might not want to be reminded, but the move backfired spectacularly on Deane 78 years ago and is again shaping as a major blunder here, thanks mainly to the fabulous Fleming and his trusty lower-order side-kick, James Franklin.

Cast together after an unconscienable error from Daniel Vettori, the pair wrested the initiative from South Africa during a record eighth wicket stand of 148.

Resuming on 114, Fleming had a life on 136 but continued to take a heavy toll on the hosts' bowling attack, bringing up his 150 after the lunch interval and raising his third double-century just before tea, at which stage New Zealand were in the box-seat at 427 for 7.

It was Fleming's ninth test century, his first against the Proteas and the highest by any New Zealander against South Africa, eclipsing Scott Styris' previous record of 170, scored against Smith's tourists at Auckland in 2003-04.

Central to his resistance was the support lent by Franklin, who defended grimly, picked up valuable runs, and absorbed one sickening bouncer to the back of the head from the energetic Ntini, when he was on 30. He was unbeaten on 46 at tea.

Together the pair brought up the 50 partnership off 84 balls, the 100 off 180 balls, and at 113 broke the record for the eighth-wicket stand against South Africa, previously set by Jacob Oram and Vettori at Hamilton two summers ago.

Fleming's blossoming innings would have come as something of a relief for the 33-year-old left-hander, who'd been dismissed on 99 at Bloemfontein in 2000, and had more recently fallen for 97 against the West Indies at Wellington.

His previous century was his 202 against Bangladesh at Chittagong in October, 2004, some 21 innings ago.

"Personally, I'm pretty satisfied," Fleming said after the end of the first day.

"Unfortunately as a batsman you're marked on the number of hundreds you've scored and I haven't been that good at converting them over a long period of time.

"It's got to the stage now that, every time I go past 50 I almost feel more pressure. So it's a nice feeling and I'm pleased, even though the way I brought it (the 100) up was a bit hairy."

Fleming went to 150 off 267 balls, and brought up his 200 off 331 balls with his 28th boundary, one of only 11 New Zealanders to have achieved the feat.

Having pulled the surprise move of picking debutante off-spinner Jeetan Patel instead of in-form seamer Kyle Mills, New Zealand would have been pleased to find themselves batting first, and even more thrilled at Fleming" heroics last night.

Asked whether he was surprised to be asked to bat first on the traditionally slowish Newlands pitch, Fleming didn't have to mull over his answer.

"Yeah, I was surprised. We were geared up to bat first if we won the toss and we thought they'd be the same. It looked a dry pitch to us, and we were surprised about much turn it was taking on the first day. We thought it couldn't not turn later on."

Smith, however, defended his decision, explaining that South Africa were anxious to make New Zealand bat again as soon as possible after the rout at Centurion, where the tourists slumped to 45 for five in the first innings, and 25 for five in the second.

"We thought that after Pretoria we'd have a good chance of making some real inroads into their line-up," he said. "I thought we bowled superbly in the first couple of hours, created a lot of chances and beat the bat a lot, without having much luck."


Previous centuries

129 v England 1996/97
174* v Sri Lanka 1997/98
105 v Australia 2001/02
130 v West Indies 2001/02
274* v Sri Lanka 2002/03
192 v Pakistan 2003/04
117 v England 2003/04
202 v Bangladesh 2004/05


Second test

South Africa V New Zealand
At tea (1.15am NZT), day two.-

NEW ZEALAND
First innings (overnight 265-6)

M. Papps b Nel 22
P. Fulton c Boucher b Steyn 36
S. Fleming not out 207
S. Styris c Dippenaar b Ntini 11
N. Astle lbw b Ntini 50
J. Oram run out 13
B. McCullum lbw b Ntini 5
D. Vettori c Nel b Ntini 11
J. Franklin not out 46
Extras (1b, 13lb, 11nb, 1w) 26
--Total (for 7 wickets, 126 overs) 427

Fall: 1/50, 2/62, 3/82, 4/188, 5/237, 6/259, 7/279.

Bowling: M. Ntini 29-2-106-4 (2nb), D. Steyn 21-3-68-1 (7nb, 1w), A. Nel 25-3-85-1 (1nb), J. Kallis 15-4-45-0 (1nb), N. Boje 21-3-66-0, G. Smith 13-2-39-0, HM Amla 1-0-3-0.