Fleming turns the pressure on home team's batting

Lynn McConnell

December 20, 2002

Having already thrown down the gauntlet to India's batsmen to score runs on New Zealand pitches, home captain Stephen Fleming is now asking the same of his own batsmen, himself included, to get New Zealand into an impregnable position when they bat in Hamilton.

Fleming, having had the first luck of the match go his way when winning the toss, saw his bowlers perform splendidly in 38 overs to leave India in strife at 92/8 by stumps in the second National Bank Series Test.

But he acknowledged that the pitch was going to do something throughout the remaining three days of the game, days that will last for 105 overs each.

"The toss isn't going to be a major thing, it is going to do enough all throughout the game.

"It is the team that is most committed that is going to win this game and, dare I say it, maybe have a bit of luck on their side. But you make your own luck in situations like this," he said.

Fleming said that due to the lack of preparation that occurred before the rain started two days out from the scheduled start of the match, it was going to be a very difficult wicket to bat on.

"You've got to show commitment on a wicket like that to get behind the ball and do some real hard yards," he said.

New Zealand were going to be very committed in their bid to get a lead in the game and to build on it.

"Our best opportunity is to bowl India out for 100, get a lead and once again we'll be in the box seat," he said.

"We bowled pretty well, we didn't let India off the hook at any stage and we're bowling fantastic channels. Length was probably the key and we're making them commit to shots, to play the ball when it is in areas they probably don't want it to be.

"The grouping of the bowlers has been fantastic," he said.

New Zealand faced a tough job when batting tomorrow.

"We're going to have to bat bloody well tomorrow to get a good score on the board. We know that and while we've bowled well, it is going to be tough for the batters throughout this Test match," he said.

Fleming said that the delay in starting today had been due to both teams wanting to get the balance right between conditions being dry enough to start or not. An added factor had been some greasiness on the pitch at 10.30am which would have made life very difficult for bowlers running through the crease.

"Both sides certainly wanted to play," he said.

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