Stephen Fleming

Early and personal life

Fleming was born on 1 April 1973 in Christchurch to Pauline Fleming and Gary Kirk. Pauline raised him as a single mother, and he did not meet his father until he was 16. Fleming played rugby for Cashmere High like his father.

On 9 May 2007, Fleming married his long-term partner Kelly Payne in a ceremony in Wellington. The couple have a daughter, born in 2006, a son born 2008 and another daughter born 2011.

Domestic career

Fleming has played county cricket in England for Middlesex, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. He captained Nottinghamshire to County Championship victory in 2005, their first Championship title in 18 years.

International career

A left-handed batsman, Fleming made his test debut in March 1994 in the home series against India winning the Man of the Match award on debut after scoring 92. He made his ODI debut on 25 March 1994 in the first match of the ODI series that followed and scored an unbeaten 90. In England's tour of New Zealand in 1996–97, he scored his maiden test century in the first test at Auckland. In the third Test of the series, he took over the captaincy from Lee Germon becoming New Zealand's youngest captain at 23 years and 321 days. He led the New Zealand team to a bronze medal in the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Fleming led the team to win the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy, which was New Zealand's first ICC trophy. Fleming became New Zealand's most successful test captain in September 2000 with a victory over Zimbabwe which was the 12th win under his captaincy overtaking Geoff Howarth and finished with 28 wins, the most by a New Zealand captain. Fleming's scored his best ODI score with an unbeaten 134 to help New Zealand beat hosts South Africa in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Chasing a rain adjusted target of 229 off 39 overs, Fleming hit 134 off just 132 deliveries as New Zealand cruised to a 9-wicket victory. In February 2005, Fleming captained New Zealand in the first ever Twenty20 International against Australia. In the second Test between New Zealand and South Africa at Cape Town in April 2006, Fleming scored his 3rd Test double-century and became the first New Zealander to achieve this feat.

On 25 October 2006, Fleming captained his country for the 194th time in an ODI overtaking Arjuna Ranatunga for most matches as a captain and finished with 218 games as a captain, a record which has since been eclipsed only by Ricky Ponting. He captained the side in the 2007 World Cup and scored 353 runs at an average of 39.22, leading the team to the semi-finals. On 24 April 2007, Fleming resigned as captain in a post-match press conference held after the semi-Final defeat to Sri Lanka. In September 2007, Fleming was replaced by Daniel Vettori as the New Zealand captain. Fleming confirmed his retirement from the New Zealand team at the end of England's 2008 tour of New Zealand to spend more time with his family, and to play for the Indian Premier League. Fleming scored over 7000 runs in test cricket and took over 170 catches, the third highest Test aggregate for a non-wicket keeper.

IPL career

Fleming was acquired by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for US$350,000 for the inaugural season of Indian Premier League. He played just one season and scored 196 runs in ten matches with CSK finishing as runners-up.

Post retirement

Fleming was appointed as the head coach of Chennai Super Kings in 2009 when he retired as a player. Under his coaching, CSK won the 2010 season and qualified for Champions League Twenty20. Chennai won the 2010 Champions league. Fleming coached CSK to its second consecutive IPL title in 2011 and its second Champions League Twenty20 title in 2014.

Following the two-year suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, two new franchises Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions were established for the 2016 Indian Premier League season. Supergiants appointed Fleming as the head coach. Fleming returned to Chennai Super Kings for the 2018 season. Fleming coached CSK to its third IPL title in 2018. Fleming led CSK to the title again in 2021 and 2023 IPL. CSK became the most successful IPL franchise with five title wins and ten final appearances during his stint as head coach. He was appointed as the head coach of other Super Kings franchises, Joburg Super Kings of SA20 in 2022 and Texas Super Kings of Major League Cricket in 2023.

Business interests

Fleming has been involved in setting up CricHQ with the company's CEO Simon Baker and former New Zealand cricket captain Brendon McCullum. Fleming is one of the investors and a director in the company. In June 2015, the company raised US$10m from Singapore private equity firm Tembusu Partners.

Playing style

Fleming was an elegant left handed batter and played shots such as the flick off the pads, straight drive, cover drive and cut shots. He was also a prolific slip catcher and was particularly noted for his captaincy, having been praised by Shane Warne as the "best captain in world cricket".

Statistics

Centuries

List of international cricket centuries by Stephen Fleming Fleming, a left-handed batsman, has made 17 centuries in international cricket nine in Test matches and eight in One Day Internationals and sits ninety-sixth in the list of century-makers in international cricket.

;Test

;ODI

Captaincy

Fleming had captained New Zealand in 303 matches including 80 Test matches, 218 ODIs and 5 T20Is, a New Zealand record and the third highest ever.

Records and achievements

;Tests

• Most wins by a New Zealand captain (28)
• Second most number of matches as captain (80)
• Third most runs for New Zealand (7172)
• Third most matches for New Zealand (111)
• Most fifties for New Zealand (46)

;ODIs

• Most wins by a New Zealand captain (98)
• Second most number of matches as captain (218)
• Third most runs as captain (6295)
• Most matches for New Zealand (279)
• Second most runs for New Zealand (8007)
• Second most fifties for New Zealand (49)

;Combined

• Third most international matches as captain (303)
• First non-wicket keeper to take 300 catches in international matches

Honors

Fleming was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to cricket, in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Player

;New Zealand

• ICC Champions Trophy: 2000
• Commonwealth Games: 1998 (Bronze)

;Nottinghamshire

• County Championship: 2005

Coach

;Chennai Super Kings

• Indian Premier League: 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023
• Champions League: 2010, 2014

Controversies

In 1995, Fleming was caught and admitted to smoking marijuana with teammates Matthew Hart and Dion Nash while on tour at their hotel.

References

References

1. "Stephen Fleming, profile". ESPNcricinfo.
2. (7 November 2004). "Fleming's father comes out of the shadows". The Age.
3. Shepherd, Nicola. (12 May 2007). "Fleming goes all out to wed in secret". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
4. "Frizzell County Championship 2005 Points Table". Cricket Archive.
5. "Only Test, Hamilton, March 19 - 23, 1994, India tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
6. "1st ODI, Napier, March 25, 1994, India tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
7. "1st Test, Auckland, January 24 - 28, 1997, England tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
8. "3rd Test, Christchurch, 1997, England tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
9. "Commonwealth games 1998". ESPNcricinfo.
10. "Magnificent Cairns steers New Zealand to great triumph". ESPNcricinfo.
11. "Test captains, New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
12. "15th Match, Johannesburg, February 16, 2003, ICC World Cup". ESPNcricinfo.
13. "Only T20I (D/N), Auckland, February 17, 2005, Australia tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
14. "Most test double hundreds". ESPNcricinfo.
15. "Most ODI matches as captain". ESPNcricinfo.
16. "Most runs, 2007 World cup". ESPNcricinfo.
17. (24 April 2007). "Fleming resigns as ODI captain". ESPNcricinfo.
18. (14 February 2008). "Fleming to end New Zealand career". [[BBC Sport]].
19. "Records–Test matches–Fielding records–Most catches in career". ESPNcricinfo.
20. "How the teams stack up". ESPNcricinfo.
21. "MS Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings". IPL.
22. "CSK squad details". IPL.
23. (29 March 2023). "Who is the CSK coach? Long-serving mastermind looking to bring more IPL glory to Chennai Super Kings". Sporting News.
24. "Raina, Dhoni star in Chennai triumph". ESPNcricinfo.
25. "Warriors v Chennai: Dominant Chennai seal title". ESPNcricinfo.
26. "Chennai Super Kings". IPL.
27. "2014 Champions League Twenty20". ESPNcricinfo.
28. (5 January 2016). "Pune names Fleming as coach". Cricket.au.
29. (19 January 2018). "Chennai Super Kings confirm return of Fleming as coach". [[Deccan Chronicle]].
30. (27 May 2018). "Final (N), Indian Premier League at Mumbai, May 27 2018. Match Report". ESPNcricinfo.
31. "MS Dhoni's CSK claim 4th title: Complete list of IPL winners since 2008".
32. (25 October 2017). "MS Dhoni: Indian cricket's first mega-brand". ESPNcricinfo.
33. (23 March 2023). "Fleming to be coach of Texas Super Kings". [[The Times of India]].
34. Hutching, Gerard. (16 June 2015). "Singaporean firm invests US$10m in New Zealand cricket tech company". [[Stuff (website).
35. (28 May 2018). "Fleming — CSK's man for all seasons". [[The Hindu]].
36. James, Steve. (8 April 2007). "Spotlight on Stephen Fleming: Boss approved". The Daily Telegraph.
37. "Records/Combined Test, ODI and T20I records/Batting records/Most hundreds in a career". ESPNcricinfo.
38. "Statistics/Statsguru/SP Fleming/Test matches/Hundreds". ESPNcricinfo.
39. "1st Test: New Zealand v England at Auckland, Jan 24–28, 1997 | Cricket Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo.
40. "1st Test, Colombo (RPS), May 27-31, 1998, New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka". ESPNcricinfo.
41. "3rd Test, Perth, November 30-December 04, 2001, New Zealand tour of Australia". ESPNcricinfo.
42. "1st Test, Bridgetown, June 21-24, 2002, New Zealand tour of West Indies". ESPNcricinfo.
43. "1st Test, Colombo (PSS), April 25-29, 2003, New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka". ESPNcricinfo.
44. "1st Test, Hamilton, December 19-23, 2003, Pakistan tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
45. "3rd Test, Nottingham, June 10-13, 2004, New Zealand tour of England". ESPNcricinfo.
46. "2nd Test, Chattogram, October 26-29, 2004, New Zealand tour of Bangladesh". ESPNcricinfo.
47. "New Zealand tour of South Africa, 2005/06 – 2nd Test". ESPNcricinfo.
48. "Statistics/Statsguru/SP Fleming/One-Day Internationals/Hundreds". ESPNcricinfo.
49. "2nd ODI, Port of Spain, March 29, 1996, New Zealand tour of West Indies". ESPNcricinfo.
50. "Australia vs. New Zealand, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, 21 January 1998". ESPNcricinfo.
51. "3rd ODI (D/N), Napier, February 12, 1998, Australia tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
52. "15th Match: South Africa v New Zealand at Johannesburg, Feb 16, 2003 | Cricket Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo.
53. "3rd ODI, Christchurch, January 10, 2004, Pakistan tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
54. "2nd ODI (D/N), Christchurch, February 17, 2004, South Africa tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo.
55. "12th Match (D/N), Brisbane, February 06, 2007, Commonwealth Bank Series". ESPNcricinfo.
56. "31st Match, Super Eights, North Sound, April 02, 2007, ICC World Cup". ESPNcricinfo.
57. "Records-Test matches-Individual records (captains, players, umpires)-Most matches as captain". ESPNcricinfo.
58. "Most matches as captain". ESPNcricinfo.
59. "Records-T20I matches-Individual records (captains, players, umpires)-Most matches as captain". ESPNcricinfo.
60. "Most matches as captain, Tests". ESPNcricinfo.
61. "Most runs for New Zealand, Tests". ESPNcricinfo.
62. (18 January 2020). "Most runs as ODI captain". Cricindeed.
63. "Most runs for New Zealand, ODIs". ESPNcricinfo.
64. "Records/Combined Test, ODI and T20I records/Individual records (captains, players, umpires)/Most matches as captain". ESPNcricinfo.
65. "Records/Combined Test, ODI and T20I records /Fielding records/Most catches in career". ESPNcricinfo.
66. (6 June 2011). "Queen's Birthday honours list 2011". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
67. "Indian Premier League Final, 2010". ESPNcricinfo.
68. "Indian Premier League Final, 2011". ESPNcricinfo.
69. "Indian Premier League Final, 2018". ESPNcricinfo.
70. "Indian Premier League Final, 2021". ESPNcricinfo.
71. "Indian Premier League Final, 2013". ESPNcricinfo.
72. "Final, Johannesburg, September 26, 2010, Champions League Twenty20". ESPNcricinfo.
73. "Final, 2014, Champions League Twenty20". ESPNcricinfo.
74. (6 November 2004). "Fleming caught out for a smoke". [[The New Zealand Herald]].