New Zealand progress, from underdogs to unassuming achievers

“It’s almost un-New Zealand, if you like. New Zealand is a conservative society, you know,” says the man who once sledged South Africa’s Graeme Smith all the way from pavilion to the middle. He is talking about the demeanour of Brendon McCullum, whom Fleming credits this turnaround in character of the national side.

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A greater tribute to McCullum’s leadership is couched in self-deprecation. Asked whether he would have loved to captain this team, Fleming says, “I would but I don’t know whether I would have got the best out of them as Brendon has. He has that self-belief and he has sort of stepped up and dragged the other players along with him. It’s not a small achievement for us.”

That sentiment was validated from an old team-mate of Fleming earlier in the afternoon. Daniel Vettori had briefly talked about the attitude: “I think New Zealanders would be unhappy if we didn’t take the underdog status. That’s something we’ve held on to for a long time.”

In the evening, Fleming smiles when he is told about Vettori’s quote. “We wanted to be understated overachievers. We were uncomfortable with being the favourites. That’s probably because we didn’t believe in us,” he says.

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“This team though has the belief, not arrogance, but a great self-belief and I see the co-relation with Brendon taking over the captaincy. They had a slow start but you can see with the way Brendon plays the game, it was never going to be boring and he has managed to inspire his team.  I think these guys are playing in the right way. At times we were too mouthy and I put my hand up as the captain. This team has got the aggression spot on. They are aggressive without unnecessary amount of verbals.”

“This is a set of players who now believe in Brendon’s philosophy and are ready to deliver. If that means three-four slips in an one-day game, then so be it. It’s one thing to try do that as a captain but it’s entirely another matter altogether when the team believes in that.”

Didn’t he ever believe in his team in the same way? Wasn’t he a pretty confident man or is the difference now in the better skill-sets of the players at McCullum’s disposal? “It’s hard to say. I believe in lots of teams I played in but this is something different.  The style of play that Brendon plays is inspiring and contagious. I wasn’t like that. He is out there, aggressive, be it running down the wicket or whatever. And yes he is backed up by senior players. (Trent) Bolt and (Tim) Southee have been outstanding. And Kane Williamson is one of the best batsman we have ever had.”

Fleming, a successful coach with Chennai Super Kings, has lots of time for Mike Hesson. “He is a quiet man, unassuming sort of fella but a confident man and a good thinker. And a perfect foil to the captain. A guy like Brendon needs a unassuming guy as a coach — that pairing works.”

Hesson might be an unassuming man but he has shown himself to be a very strong personality. Back in 2012 December, he had told Ross Taylor, the captain then, that he is going to tell the selectors to strip him of captaincy. It even led to Taylor taking a mini-break from playing for New Zealand after he lost out the captaincy to McCullum. Even Shane Bond, the bowling coach then, wasn’t enamoured of Hesson’s decision and called it a “sabotage” and a “cover up”.  For his part, Hesson said he is ready to take unpopular decisions in the interest of the team.

THE CAPTAINCY ISSUE

All that is now a footnote in history but Fleming believes McCullum should have been made the captain before Taylor. “That was a mistake, I think, making Ross the captain. I wanted Brendon to be the captain and he would have had a good four years. Ross could have then come into the picture after that. Now I do worry about what will happen after this World Cup but we shall see.”

There is a great confidence about this team among the New Zealanders but there is also a hint of caginess about how far they can go. Many fear that the juggernaut can come to a screeching halt just like it did in 1992, when the team lost out in the semis to Pakistan.”That fear is there but you got to get there first,” says Fleming. “If someone gets you, then someone does. If the World Cup doesn’t go our way, so be it but I think we got a good team for future. I am immensely proud of the direction they are going.”