Fleming has his feet on ground after Lord’s high

Despite their progress, Fleming still believes Australia are the team to beat.

“We are not that close (to Australia). There are huge areas for us to improve,” he said. “But we are gaining on them.”

New Zealand lost the test series 3-0 to England but Fleming was not unduly concerned by the disparity in their performances in the two versions of the game.

“We are intelligent on and off the ball,” he told a news conference. “People say why don’t we transfer this to test cricket. We are nearly there.”

The next chance to test themselves against Australia will be in the ICC Champions Trophy in England in September.

“We are looking forward to the next challenge in the ICC Champions Trophy,” Fleming said. “We need to continue our form after a break and get back into the rhythm.”

He reserved special praise for Harris, who became the second player, after Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya, to take 200 one-day international wickets and score 4,000 runs.

“I can not stress how popular he is in New Zealand. He is an original,” Fleming said. “He is already talking about his next hundred (wickets).” (Reuters)

Brief scores

: 266 in 50 overs (Fleming 67, Astle 57, Marshall 44, McMillan 52, Best 2-57, Bravo 2-67, Sarwan 3-31). West Indies: 159 in 41.2 overs (D.Smith 44, Lara 30, Chanderpaul 31, Vettori 5-30).