Stephen Fleming

One of the best cricketers New Zealand has ever produced, Stephen Paul Fleming was the face of Kiwi cricket for a better part of his career. He can easily be in anyone’s list of top ten New Zealand batsmen and as a captain he is considered arguably the most cerebral skipper in the modern game.

Impressive Debut 

Stephen Fleming leaves the field for the final time.   © Getty Images

The southpaw made his debut against the visiting Indians way back in 1994. He impressed one and all when he scored a gritty 92 on Test debut. This was followed by another 90 on his ODI debut in the same series. In the 1996/97 season, England toured New Zealand and this was the series that opened the doors of success for Fleming. He scripted his maiden test century in the first Test at Auckland. In the third encounter of that series he took over the captaincy from Lee Germon thus making him the youngest Kiwi skipper aged 23 years and 321 days.

The Kiwis are a sturdy unit today and much of the credit for this goes to Fleming who also made sure that the players do not forgo their natural flair. Under him New Zealand has made giant strides and are today opponents which no team can take lightly both in Tests and ODIs. A refined left handed opening batsman Fleming played both pace and spin with ease. He was the ideal opener for his side with his stylish batting and has consequently scored runs handsomely and effortlessly all over the cricketing world. A career average of 40 spread over 102 Tests with a career best score of 274 not out against Sri Lanka, speaks greatly of Fleming’s steadiness and the skill to play a long innings. However, having just nine Test centuries is a poor return for the immense talent he possessed.

Fleming’s stint with Middlesex in 2001 set the tone for the re-evaluation of his batting methods and his inability to convert half-centuries to tons. But all this changed after a magnificent innings of 134 not out that steered New Zealand to a classy victory over South Africa in the World Cup. This was followed by another spell in county cricket – this time with Yorkshire. Soon after that came his highest score of 274 not out against Sri Lanka in the first Test of their 2003 series which established Fleming’s superior batting consistency. To top it all he scored an impressive 192 at Hamilton against Pakistan later that year and was subsequently named New Zealand's Cricketer of the Year in 2004.

Record-Breaker 

Stephen Fleming and his daughter Tayla. © Getty Images

In October 2004, he pocketed three Kiwi Test records when he faced the Bangladesh attack at Chittagong. Firstly, his 87th Test produced him the record for most caps earned by a New Zealander and when he took to the crease for the 150th time it was the greatest number of Test innings for a New Zealand player. In addition, as he moved to 81 on the way to a mammoth 202, he outdid Martin Crowe's record aggregate of 5444 runs in Tests for New Zealand. He launched his first book, Balance of Power in December 2004 and, in the following season, captained Nottinghamshire to their first county title since 1987.

Fleming made his 100th Test appearance in the subsequent month of May, against South Africa at Centurion. However, he was unsuccessful to mark the chance with an innings of substance. A splendid 262 followed at Cape Town but New Zealand were unable to triumph in the match. The World Cup in the Caribbean was Fleming's fourth as a player and third as captain and he did not disappoint. He led New Zealand to another semi-final. That would be his final act as one-day skipper, despite the fact that, he declared that he wanted to retain the other half of his role by continuing to lead the side in the longer version of the game.

Twilight Zone
The 2006-07 off-season was spent playing at Nottinghamshire and evading questions about whether he would join the rebel Indian Cricket League. Soon after, in September he stated that he would stay on as a New Zealand Test player but retreat from ODIs. Simultaneously, Fleming was relieved of the Test captaincy after a decade in charge, in favour of veteran spinner Daniel Vettori. He finally announced his international retirement just before the series against England. Most people will agree that this astute leader will be remembered more for his captaincy than his batsmanship. In his farewell innings, a resolute 66 did just enough to raise his Test average to 40.66 – a fitting end to a magnificent career that spanned 15 years and took the Black Caps to great heights of success.