Cricket: Fleming's Boxing clever

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WELLINGTON - It says something of their progress over the past year that the New Zealand cricketers can now talk about the dangers of complacency with a straight face.

Not so long ago, the very suggestion would have left people on the floor laughing, and even now might have the potential to raise a few eyebrows were it not for Stephen Fleming's qualification on the eve of the Boxing Day start to the second test at the Basin Reserve.

The New Zealand captain stressed that it was more about players finding a comfort-zone than taking anyone for granted, and pointed to both the team's playing record over the past five years, and the fluctuations in the first test as justification for the concern.

"We've shown a tendency to relax a shade after playing a good game and have subsequently backed up with a bad game," he said. "It's not a matter of taking anyone lightly or for granted, it's just that problem of becoming more comfortable within yourself.

"It's only human to feel a bit better about things after a game's gone well, but the facts of the matter are that we don't play very well when we get comfortable. We need to get that prickly feeling back for this test. We want to maintain the edge."

To help to achieve that, Fleming said the side were paying close attention to the bagging the West Indies were receiving from home after their nine-wicket defeat at Hamilton, in order to gain an appreciation of the size of the backlash they were likely to face in this second and final test of the series.

In the past few days, the heads of coach Sir Vivian Richards, manager Clive Lloyd and captain Brian Lara have all been demanded in separate newspaper articles as the Caribbean cricketing public tries to comes to terms with one of their gloomiest periods in history.

"We've been reading the reaction and trying to understand the depth of feeling involved," Fleming said. "They're obviously going to be very determined this time around and there's a lot of pride at stake, and we're feeding off that a bit - using it to stay wary and alert.

"In light of the sort of publicity they've been receiving, I think we can expect a much tougher time."

It was a year ago today that New Zealand began what has the potential to end as one of their best 12 months in history, beating India by four wickets in the Boxing Day test, before taking the series 1-nil.

They were then beaten 1-nil at home by a powerful South African side, qualified for the semifinals of the World Cup, beat England 2-1 in the test series and performed creditably, albeit unsuccessfully, on the recent tour to India.

It would be a brave man who wagered much on the likely configuration of the New Zealand bowling attack after the Hamilton surprises, but the early indications are that Shayne O'Connor may be preferred to offspinner Paul Wiseman.

The West Indies too, seem set to make an adjustment to their seam attack, with Merv Dillon expected to replace Franklyn Rose, while they might also be tempted to bat Daren Ganga in the middle order instead of Ricardo Powell.