| Stephen Fleming | ||||
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 New Zealand |
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| Personal information | ||||
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| Batting style | Left-handed batsman | |||
| Bowling style | Right Arm Medium | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Tests | ODIs | |||
| Matches | 104 | 280 | ||
| Runs scored | 6620 | 8037 | ||
| Batting average | 39.64 | 32.4 | ||
| 100s/50s | 9/41 | 8/49 | ||
| Top score | 274* | 134* | ||
| Balls bowled | - | 29 | ||
| Wickets | - | 1 | ||
| Bowling average | - | 28.00 | ||
| 5 wickets in innings | - | - | ||
| 10 wickets in match | - | n/a | ||
| Best bowling | - | 1/8 | ||
| Catches/stumpings | 159/- | 133/- | ||
Stephen Paul Fleming (born in Christchurch on 1 April, 1973) is a New Zealand cricketer, and the former captain of the New Zealand national cricket team, known as the Black Caps, in Test and one-day cricket. Known for his astute tactical abilities, he is New Zealand's longest-serving and most successful captain, having led the side to 28 victories (as of April 2007) and having won Test match series against India, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. His father was President of the South Christchurch Cricket Club.
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Career performance
A left-handed batsman, Fleming made his Test debut in March 1994 against India winning the Man of the Match award on debut after scoring 92. In 1995 he survived controversy when he was caught and admitted to smoking marijuana with teammates Matthew Hart and Dion Nash while on tour at their hotel. In England's tour of New Zealand in 1996/7 he scored his maiden Test century in the First Test at Auckland. In the Third Test of the tour he took over the captaincy from Lee Germon becoming New Zealand's youngest captain at 23 years and 320 days. Fleming became New Zealand's most successful captain in September 2000 with a victory over Zimbabwe. This was the 12th win under his captaincy overtaking Geoff Howarth. Fleming was long regarded as an underperformer with the bat, with one of the worst 50 to 100 conversion ratios in world cricket. However since the 2003 tour of Sri Lanka, Fleming has silenced his critics, with 274 not out against Sri Lanka - when Fleming selflessly declared rather than staying to reach 300 which would have been a record in New Zealand cricket history. Arguably Fleming's best ODI innings was his unbeaten 134 to help New Zealand beat hosts South Africa in the 2003 World Cup. Chasing a rain adjusted target of 229 off 39 overs, Fleming hit 134 off just 132 deliveries as New Zealand cruised to a 9-wicket victory over a team they had struggled against in the past. Fleming has not been one of the world's leading ODI batsmen at any stage of his career but has seven other centuries to his credit. Fleming has played county cricket for Middlesex, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. He captained Nottinghamshire to County Championship victory in 2005, their first Championship title in 18 years. In the 2nd Test between New Zealand and South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town in April 2006, Fleming scored his 3rd Test double-century and became the first New Zealander to achieve this feat. Fleming scored 262 as he and Wellington team-mate James Franklin put 256 runs for the 8th wicket, the highest partnership in Tests between New Zealand and South Africa. It is also a record for the 8th wicket against any country in the world.
On 25 October 2006, Fleming captained his country for the 194th time in an ODI - a world record, overtaking Arjuna Ranatunga. On 24 April 2007, Fleming resigned as the ODI captain of the Blackcaps. The announcement was made in a post-match press conference held after the Semi-Final defeat to Sri Lanka in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. [1] After Fleming's last match as captain, Mahela Jayawardene added a tribute. "Stephen's been a great leader for New Zealand for some time, and you could learn a lot from him". Over a decade of leading the side he finished with 218 games, 98 wins, 106 losses. As of this date, there is talk that he may be joining the controversial rebel twenty20 league, The Indian Cricket League (ICL). However, this is yet to be confirmed by Fleming. As of April 2007, Fleming had captained New Zealand in 80 Test matches -- a New Zealand record and the second highest number worldwide [2]. As a fielder, Fleming has taken over 150 catches giving him the 3rd highest Test aggregate for a non-wicketkeeper[3]. On 9 May 2007 Fleming married his long term partner Kelly Payne in a ceremony held in Wellington. In September 2007, Fleming was replaced by Daniel Vettori as the New Zealand Test captain. He also left English county Notts after three years as captain.
Records
- Most capped ODI Captain (218 matches as of April 24 2007) [4]
- The most catches by a fielder in a calendar year with 28 victims in 1997 [5]
See also
References
External links
| Preceded by Lee Germon |
New Zealand national cricket captain 1996/7-2007 |
Succeeded by Daniel Vettori |
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| 1 Germon (c/wk) • 2 Astle • 3 Cairns • 4 Fleming • 5 Harris • 6 Kennedy • 7 Larsen • 8 Morrison • 9 Nash • 10 Parore • 11 Patel • 12 Spearman • 13 Thomson • 14 Twose |
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| 1 Fleming • 2 Adams • 3 Astle • 4 Bond • 5 Cairns • 6 Harris • 7 McCullum • 8 McMillan • 9 Mills • 10 Oram • 11 Sinclair • 12 Styris • 13 Tuffey • 14 Vettori • 15 Vincent |
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| 1 Fleming • 2 Vettori • 3 Bond • 4 Franklin • 5 Fulton • 6 Gillespie • 7 McCullum • 8 McMillan • 9 Marshall • 10 Martin • 11 Mason • 12 Oram • 13 Patel • 14 Styris • 15 Taylor • 16 Tuffey • 17 Vincent • Coach: Bracewell Tuffey and Vincent were injured during the tournament and replaced in the squad by Martin and Marshall respectively. |
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