Flem's the man to lead New Zealand

Chris Cairns

February 12, 2001

Watching Flem [Stephen Fleming] being interviewed last Tuesday when the Black Caps lost the Sri Lankan series in Auckland, you could see the look of a man who was exhausted and completely at a loss to explain, once again, where things had gone wrong.

It is the first time I have seen him look like that and knowing him well he must be under enough pressure and doubting himself in the role of captain.

I hope he stays on.

I have heard murmurings that he may step down, but right now is a test of character, and it's character that Flem does possess and strength is what his leadership is built around.

The game is meant to be tough, no denying that, and now is the time for him to search inward because he is still the best man for the job. And in today's instant dot com era, swings of bad to good are not too far away.

From the series against Sri Lanka, the batters will know they didn't produce. Too often Chris Harris has been the leading run scorer.

Harry is a player who should be complementing the side with specialist last 15-over technique he has learnt over the years.

I think the batters were too timid.

There is a fine line in cricket between being successful and failing, between being positive and reckless.

Fortune so often favours the positive but does need to be mixed with intelligent decision-making.

It is about knowing your strengths, hitting in your areas and having the patience that if a bowler is bowling well you respect, but look at other ways of lower risk scoring - singles, hard-running.

Christchurch showed if we can get the top order firing we can make big scores and in today's game you need 250-plus to really put pressure on.

Pakistan arrive today amid the Akhtar hype and I will be interested to see how he goes because I believe his injury was very serious and considering how much strain he puts on his body when he bowls, a recurrence may be on the cards.

I hope not though, as he's great for the game and great to watch as he's exciting.

But the one for me is Wasim Akram. The best cricketer I have played against, he will be the man New Zealand have to watch out for because so often he puts sides on the back foot by getting a couple of wickets in his first spell. Great to see Dan Vettori back and he is getting better all the time.

After these one-dayers against Pakistan, the temptation will be to play him in the Tests but I think that could be a bit too much for Dan who is yet to play a first-class game for Northern Districts.

One-dayers and Tests are poles apart and Dan still needs time and as much as we need him for for New Zealand's sake, it just may not be the right time for Dan Vettori.

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