Cricket: Fleming's chance to reach milestone

By RICHARD BOOCK

A series win over South Africa might not be the last frontier for Stephen Fleming, but it would certainly represent a step in the right direction.

The New Zealand captain has been at the helm during some of New Zealand's most historic cricketing triumphs, including the side's first win at Lord's and the first series win in the West Indies, not to mention the Champions Trophy success in Nairobi.

The trailblazer of New Zealand captains, he has led the team to places no previous New Zealand team has ventured, until only two major historical milestones remain uncovered.

New Zealand, despite making steady progress in the past five years, have yet to score a series win in India in either form of the game, and more importantly, have yet to win a series against South Africa anywhere.

Slowly the giants have fallen: Australia, the West Indies, England, Pakistan, and India (at home) until only South Africa remain unconquered in a series.

Fleming said yesterday that on present form only a much-improved performance from New Zealand would be enough to change a trend that began 73 years ago, when South Africa won the inaugural test series 2-0.

"South Africa will be a tougher proposition than Pakistan, there's no doubt in my mind about that," he said.

"Their batsmen are not afraid of bounce, they're used to the ball moving a little bit more, and they're possibly more technically proficient. So we'll need to be even more precise with our execution."

At a time when Australia and India have been turning on a batting extravaganza across the Tasman - with Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman playing some of the finest innings seen in decades - South Africa have been almost as impressive.

Graeme Smith scored the fourth-highest number of test runs last year (1198), becoming the first South African to score double centuries in consecutive tests, and the first South African to score a double century at Lord's.

And his opening partner, Herschelle Gibbs, continues to flourish after scoring 1156 runs in tests last year, and proving almost as effective in the shorter game.

With a supporting cast of batsmen such as Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Boeta Dippenaar and Neil McKenzie, not to mention useful boundary hitters like Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener, New Zealand's next visitors appear to be bristling with firepower.

Fleming said there appeared to be no obvious weaknesses in the side, which was what he expected from an opponent of South Africa's pedigree.

But he believed New Zealand were capable of overcoming the odds if the players showed they had learned from the Pakistan experience, and lifted their performance several notches.

"This is one of greatest challenges in New Zealand cricket history and we're very excited about the possibilities," he said.

"We knew it would be a tough series against Pakistan, but we've all been looking forward to this contest in particular.

"The guys appreciate how big this thing has become. Many of our players have played against them before, and while we haven't had any series success as yet, we feel we're not far away from them."

Fleming recalled that a lot of the losses (New Zealand have won just nine of 34 ODIs) had come after extremely close finishes, and pointed out that his side had won the most recent contest during last year's World Cup tournament.

However, a concern must be that New Zealand have featured in six ODI series against South Africa (not counting one-off events) and have lost them all, the last two by 5-0 and 5-1 margins.

The ignominy reaches even further back in the test arena, where New Zealand have yet to win a single match against South Africa at home and, although winning three in the Republic, have not yet secured a series.

Fleming said the South African top-order seemed to have improved since the addition of Smith, whose combination with Gibbs was now rivalling that of Australians Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer.

"I saw a lot of Smith in England when he got a lot of runs, but I thought the English bowled poorly to him," said Fleming.

"It's up to our guys to work out where to attack him, and there are definitely areas that we're interested in - but obviously I don't want to go into too much detail on that right now."

Fleming said he believed South Africa's bowling attack was possibly less penetrative than in years gone by, and was now using different strategies to gain success.

"They rely more now on accuracy and building up pressure," he said.

"They've got Makhaya Ntini but they're missing Allan Donald's express pace, so they've had to adjust their attack."

He suggested the biggest difference to Pakistan was South Africa's strong team ethic, a bond that left them less vulnerable to pressure and made them a much "tougher nut to crack".

"They're similar to us in terms of work-ethic and strategy, and that makes them difficult, because then it comes down to things like individual talent and skill levels."

THE ITINERARY

February 11: v Northern Districts, Hamilton.

February 13: First ODI v NZ, Auckland (D/N).

February 17: Second ODI, Christchurch (D/N).

February 20: Third ODI, Wellington (D/N).

February 24: Fourth ODI, Dunedin (D/N).

February 28: Fifth ODI, Auckland (D/N).

March 2: Sixth ODI, Napier.

March 5-7: v TBA, Napier or Hamilton.

March 10-14: First test, Hamilton.

March 18-22: Second test, Auckland.

March 26-30: Third test, Wellington