The man who could’ve been king

Fleming had come to the crease when New Zealand were 48 for one, striding through a guard of honour formed by his teammates and the England players. He got off the mark with a streaky four through gully, then proceeded to play with typical poise and elegance, hitting seven more boundaries in reaching his half century in 89 minutes.

He shared a partnership of 99 with Matthew Bell (69) for New Zealand’s second wicket which awoke the possibility that while they might not make the 553 needed to win the match, they might at least bat the five and a half sessions to save it.

Then Fleming was undone. He played back when he should have played forward to a ball from off-spinner Monty Panesar which hurried onto him and the ball carried from the bottom edge of his bat to Tim Ambrose behind the stumps.

The last walk

Fleming left the field with typical dignity, masking his disappointment, applauded by players and umpires, pregnant wife Kelly and was accorded a standing ovation by more than 5,000 spectators, who watched the fourth day’s play. “I walked off frustrated, which has happened about 50-60 times in my career, and I did have a smile at myself that it was a fitting way to go,” he said.

“If I’d scored a hundred it would have been an anomaly,” he said. Fleming was slow to react to his ovation and admitted there was a lot running through his mind. “I had a lot of things to cram into 55 metres, and it seemed to happen pretty fast,” he said.

“Those first 30 paces, I was just annoyed to be walking off with another start to my name. Then it was about savouring who was here, and what it was about, and enjoying the ovation. It was all just mixed emotions, which is what I’ll have for the next two or three weeks, maybe longer.”

In surpassing 54 he had at least guaranteed he will finish with a Test batting average of more than 40. “I am satisfied with 40 on the chest. It sets you apart, in terms of New Zealand batters anyway, but as a batsman I’ll always feel I underachieved because I couldn’t convert my starts, and I’ll never know why. Sometimes I was the master of my own failings, other times it just wasn’t meant to be.

Missed opportunities

“Even if I’d converted a quarter or a half (of my fifties) I’m up into the 20-25 centuries category which, as we know, is pretty good going,” he said. “I’ll always rue that fact and wonder why, but I guess there are bigger things out there so it won’t last too long.”

Fleming said he missed the responsibility of being the skipper. “I loved the captaincy and everything that went along with it,” he said. “The pressure, the emotions, the ability to control a game and a group of men. That’s something I do miss and have missed, so if the opportunity with other sides come, I’ll look forward to it.” Earlier, England batted for 35 minutes early today to allow Andrew Strauss to complete his double hundred but the English left-hander failed in pursuit and became the first batsman to fall. Stuart Broad added a quick 31 before England declared at 467-7.

Brief scores: New Zealand 168 and 222 for 5 (Ian Bell 69, Stephen Fleming 66, Monty Panesar 3-49) need another 331 runs to beat England 253 and 467 for 7 declared (Andrew Strauss 177, Ian Bell 110)