New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming cracked his sixth Test century on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan on Friday.Fleming, who only confirmed his fitness on Thursday, was 125 not out at the close after he watched Pakistan fight back with four wickets following the tea interval to leave the home team on 295 for six. Robbie Hart was unbeaten on seven.“I worked hard in the nets three or four days out and what you saw today was someone who thought a lot about this innings and what I had to do,” said Fleming, who overcame an abdominal strain to play in the Test.“Technically it was certainly one of the better ones. My body position was good and I felt good.”New Zealand went to tea on 192 for two but lost Scott Styris (33), Craig McMillan (22), Chris Cairns (11) and Jacob Oram (6) in the final session.Styris was removed by a catch by Taufeeq Umar off Danish Kaneria before McMillan fell to the same combination immediately after he had hit the spinner over long-on for two successive sixes.Cairns, playing his first Test for almost two years, edged a ball from Shabbir Ahmed to wicketkeeper Moin Khan before Shabbir picked up his third wicket of the day when Oram was bowled round his legs.Through it all Fleming was majestic. He shared two century partnerships, with Mark Richardson (44) for the second wicket and Styris for the third and helped give New Zealand a solid start.Richardson survived two chances before being run out by Umar Gul at the bowler’s end after calling Fleming for a quick single.Pakistan had a chance to pick up a third wicket before tea but new batsman Styris was dropped by Abdul Razzaq off Gul.(Reuters)
