15 Facts about Stephen Fleming: The Kiwi Leader

Stephen Fleming was an elegant left-handed batsman and played shots such as the flick off the pads, straight drive, cover drive and cut shots. He was particularly noted for his captaincy, having been praised from cricketers around the world as the best captain in world cricket. Known for his astute tactical abilities, he is New Zealand’s second-most capped test player with 111 test appearances. He remains the country’s highest run-getter in Tests and ODIs. He scored 7172 Test runs including 9 tons and 46 fifties and 8037 ODI runs with the help of 8 tons and 49 fifties.

1. Birth:

Stephen Fleming was born on 1^st April 1973 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

2. Memorable Test debut:

Fleming made his Test debut in March 1994 against India winning the Man of the Match award on after scoring 92. The knock gave a glimpse of his immense potential as a batsman.

3. Controversy: 

In 1995, he was caught and admitted to smoking marijuana with teammates Matthew Hart and Dion Nash while on tour at their hotel. While Fleming and Hart admitted their part in proceedings, Nash claimed he had simulated using the drug. The trio were fined $175 but Fleming believed it cost him tens of thousands in lost sponsorship.

4. Country’s youngest captain:

In England’s tour of New Zealand in 1996-97, 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 321 days.

5. Stint with Middlesex:

A stint with English county Middlesex in 2001 laid the foundations for a successful re-evaluation of his batting methods where the inability to convert half-centuries to centuries did no justice to his quality.

6. Best ODI knock:

Arguably Fleming’s best ODI innings was his unbeaten 134 to help New Zealand beat hosts South Africa in the 2003 Cricket 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.

7. County Championship:

Fleming played county cricket in England for Middlesex, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. He captained Nottinghamshire to County Championship victory in 2005, their first Championship title in 18 years.

8. Cricketer of the year:

Fleming confirmed his greater batting consistency with a career-highest 274 not out against Sri Lanka in the first Test of their 2003 series. He followed that with an equally impressive 192 at Hamilton against Pakistan later that year and was named New Zealand’s cricketer of the year in 2004.

9. A day of records:

The date 26 October 2004 will remain in Fleming’s memory, as he gained three New Zealand Test records in facing the Bangladesh attack at Chittagong. Firstly, his 87th Test earned him the record for most caps won by a New Zealander and, in striding to the crease for the 150th time, this was the greatest number of Test innings for New Zealand. And, as he moved to 81, in an innings where he would strike 202, he surpassed Martin Crowe’s record aggregate of 5444 runs in Tests for New Zealand.

10. Another record:

In the second 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. He scored 262 as he and James Franklin put 256 runs for the 8th wicket, the highest partnership to date in Tests between New Zealand and South Africa. It is also a New Zealand record for the 8th wicket against any country.

11. 2007 World Cup:

Fleming played well throughout the 2007 World Cup scoring 353 runs at an average of 39.22 and was New Zealand’s second highest run scorer in the tournament. He failed in the semi-final against Sri Lanka scoring just 1 off 4 balls as New Zealand went on to lose the match and crashed out of the tournament. 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.

12. A tribute from his opposite number:

After Fleming’s last match as captain, Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan skipper added a tribute. He said, “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, and 106 losses.

13. End of Test captaincy:

In September 2007, Fleming announced he would stay on as a New Zealand Test player but retired from ODIs, and at the same time was relieved of the Test captaincy after a decade in charge, in favour of Daniel Vettori. However, after being tempted by the Indian Premier League he announced his international retirement and the series against England was his last.

14. IPL:

Fleming played for the Chennai Super Kings in the 2008 edition after being signed for US$350,000. He played 10 matches and scored 196 runs at an average of 21.77 with a highest score of 45. He was appointed as coach of CSK in 2009 and retired as a player from the team. He has had a very successful stint with the team winning the IPL 2010, CLT20 2010 and IPL 2011. He coached CSK for 6 years until it was banned in IPL for two years according to the decision of Justice RM Lodha committee. In IPL 2016 he became the coach of Rising Pune Supergiants.

15. Personal life:

On 9 May 2007, Fleming married his long-term partner Kelly Payne in a ceremony held in Wellington. His father was President of the South Christchurch Cricket Club. Stephen Fleming was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours, for services to cricket.