Cricket: Skipper waiting for his chance

Outside boating and mowing lawns, Stephen Fleming's biggest aversion in life used to be the fear of not scoring runs.

He felt the pressure keenly four years ago after losing form at home, becoming so stressed with his lack of productivity - not to mention his team's losing streak - that he almost fell on his sword.

With that in mind, the New Zealand captain has been an interesting case-study in Australia, where he has struggled with the bat for the first time in three years, and has also had to cope with a crushing defeat in the test series.

Stricken by a virus at the start of the tour, Fleming made 0 and 11 in the first test at Brisbane, 83 and 3 in the second at Adelaide, kicked off the Chappell-Hadlee one-day series with a second-ball duck at Melbourne, and turned in 34 in Sydney on Wednesday.

But the confidence gained from pulling himself out of a rut in 2001 seems to have boosted Fleming's self-belief to the point that he's no longer beating himself up over a lean patch, and can take a more philosophical view of his predicament.

"I've been feeling okay, to be honest - mainly because I think I've been bowled out," Fleming said this week. "I think I received some good balls in the test, and again in the first ODI, which you sometimes just have to accept.

"That's how it goes. But I feel in good nick, I'm certainly not down, and I'm working hard at my game."

Fleming was clearly unwell at Brisbane and fell to outside edges into the slips' cordon and, although rallying with an admirable effort in the first innings at Adelaide, was twice outwitted by Glenn McGrath (who took his wicket on three of the four occasions).

He then was trapped dead in front by a late-swinging thunderbolt from Brett Lee in the opening ODI, and fell lbw again in Sydney, this time to Brad Hogg.

Since starting to rebuild his batting technique three years ago, Fleming has scored test centuries against Australia, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, England and Bangladesh, and is convinced that he now has the correct formula for long-term success.

"I'm just waiting for my time," he said. "It's not about poor shot-selection or technical deficiencies, it's just been a matter of some genuine dismissals throughout the series."

Fleming also believed it was easier to cope with individual challenges when everyone in the team was pulling in the same direction, especially when the chips were down as they were at the end of the two tests.

He said a good team spirit was all very well when a side was winning, but that the acid test came when they were under the cosh.

"The guys have been coming forward and contributing throughout the tour, and they've never stopped doing that," he said. "I think it's a good sign, because it means we're reacting positively even when we're not doing that well."

It was also true that the ODI side were probably more confident in their role than the test team, something Fleming said was probably inevitable considering New Zealand's impressive recent record in the shorter game.

"I think there's a greater sense of self-belief in this team whenever we pull the black uniform on," he said. "There's more confidence about what we're doing, and about the role that each individual is playing."

New Zealand have won (17 of the past 20) completed ODIs, but have been awful in the test arena, losing seven of their past dozen outings, including being swept by both England and Australia.

"I guess there's a skill factor involved too," Fleming said.

"Our test team has deficiencies at the moment, but we know we've got enough skills to win one-day matches.

"In ODIs, you can get by with a good work-ethic and one or two guys having a good day, whereas in the test arena you need four or five strong performances."

But he disputed a suggestion that individual players would have been shell-shocked after the defeats at Brisbane and Adelaide, saying the damage inflicted on the test side had not impacted on the mindset of the ODI squad at all: "You have to take this 'mental scarring' business with a grain of salt, really.

"We all know Australia are a good side and that we have to play bloody well for 100 overs to beat them, but there's been no mental scarring inflicted on any of us."