Cricket: Fleming gives his fans hope that the best is yet to come

CAPETOWN - You get the feeling that, just like the late surge from former batting great Glenn Turner, the best of the Stephen Fleming years are still to come.

It was hard to think otherwise at the weekend as Fleming blazed another trail through the New Zealand record books, over-taking such luminaries as Martin Donnelly, Bert Sutcliffe and Turner while posting 262 in the second test against South Africa.

The 33-year-old notched the fourth highest individual total in New Zealand cricket history and also took the record for the highest test score at Newlands and became the first Kiwi batsman to post three double centuries.

It was a great innings, marred by a straight-forward chance at 136, but otherwise a confirmation of Fleming's undisputed master class, and an indication that the father of one continues to improve, even after 12 years at the top.

It was also an emphatic personal statement, given he'd become the first New Zealander to play 100 tests last week at Centurion, and made a point of saying then that he'd like to play for a further four years, and push his overall average above 40.00.

The comment was a rare insight into the Fleming mindset, an admission that he believed he had more to offer and that his ability would not be accurately reflected if his average continued to hover around 38.75.

So you can imagine his quiet satisfaction at the weekend when, in one bound, he jumped from 38.75 to 40.13, scaling the fence that so many said would be impossible, given the high number of innings he'd played.

In test cricket's world of statistics, 40.00 highlights the boundary between the good and the exceptional batsmen; it separates the chaff from the wheat and is a reliable gauge for measuring just how influential a player has been.

Eclipsing the mark was all the more commendable considering Fleming has played a high proportion of his matches in New Zealand, where the pitches are invariably bowler-friendly and the batsmen tend to struggle more than usual.

A batting average of 38.00 in New Zealand is probably the equivalent of 42.00 in places like the subcontinent, the West Indies or Africa, where Fleming - if he'd been based there - would have undoubtedly excelled.

In contrast, only the most technically correct batsmen have stood out in New Zealand conditions and Turner and Martin Crowe are stand-out examples. John Wright succeeded by paring back his game, as did Mark Richardson, but - if anything - Turner and Crowe became more expansive.

Fleming possibly has more holes in his game than either but - when conditions are in his favour - he remains without peer on the New Zealand stage and on his day is capable of collaring any attack in the world.

In terms of the modern era, at least, he deserves to be regarded as the third best batsman New Zealand's produced, and if he can continue to post totals as impressive as the one at Newlands on Saturday, who knows where he could end.

At the moment, Crowe's record 17 centuries positively dwarfs Fleming's mark of nine - but the margin is narrowing by the year.

Highest test scores for New Zealand
299 Martin Crowe v Sri Lanka at Wellington, 1st test, 1990-91.
274* Stephen Fleming v Sri Lanka at Colombo (PSS), 1st test, 2003.
267* Bryan Young v Sri Lanka at Dunedin, 1st test, 1996-97.
262 Fleming v South Africa, Newlands, 2005-06.
259 Glenn Turner v West Indies at Georgetown, 4th test, 1971-72.
239 Graham Dowling v India at Christchurch, 2nd test, 1967-68.
230* Bert Sutclife v India at Delhi, 3rd test, 1955-56.
224 Lou Vincent v Sri Lanka at Wellington, 2nd test, 2004-05.
223* Glenn Turner v West Indies at Kingston, 1st test, 1971-72.
222 Nathan Astle v England at Christchurch, 1st test, 2001-02.
214 Mathew Sinclair v West Indies at Wellington, 2nd test, 1999-2000.
206 Martin Donnelly v England at Lord's, 2nd test, 1949.
204* Mathew Sinclair v Pakistan at Christchurch, 2nd test, 2000-01.
202 Fleming v Bangladesh at Chittagong, 2nd test, 2004-05.