Cricket: Double delight for Fleming at NZ awards

Stephen Fleming was named player of the year at New Zealand Cricket's awards dinner in Auckland last night.

The New Zealand skipper won the Walter Hadlee Trophy for one-day international batting and also collected the supreme player of the year award.

His only miss came when he was surprisingly pipped for the Redpath Cup for first-class batting by New Zealand team-mate Scott Styris.

The award period stretched back to the tour of Sri Lanka last May when Fleming scored his magnificent career-best 274 not out against the spin wizardry of Muttiah Muralitharan in the heat of Colombo.

He also scored 192 in the first test against Pakistan in Hamilton and added two match-winning one-day centuries, both in Christchurch, against Pakistan and South Africa.

In the award period Fleming, who is 31 today, played nine tests, scoring 732 runs at 56.31, and 21 one-day internationals, notching up 728 runs at 38.31.

Styris won the Redpath Cup with an average of 45 from nine tests, with his consistency throughout the year perhaps swaying the judging panel of Sir Richard Hadlee, Gavin Larsen and John F. Reid.

Styris hit two test centuries and three half-centuries in the past year - 119 against India in Mohali and a career-best 170 against South Africa in Auckland last month.

He also finished strongly, averaging 80.25 in the just-completed test series against South Africa, while Fleming tailed off with 101 runs from five innings in the series.

Paceman Chris Martin topped his magic March by winning the Winsor Cup for first-class bowling after snaring an outstanding 53 first-class wickets for the season.

He finished with 18 wickets at 16.66 from just four innings in the series against South Africa after a 22-month absence from test cricket.

Injured paceman Daryl Tuffey headed off Jacob Oram for the Walter Hadlee Trophy for one-day international bowling, taking 34 wickets at 27.09 from 23 matches.

Oram's forgettable tour of India may have counted against him as he was the best one-day bowler during the home season with 16 wickets, averaging 28 and 4.3 per over against South Africa, and 20.62 and 3.36 per over against Pakistan.

In domestic cricket, Chris Harris was rewarded for his prolific State Championship season for Canterbury - 580 runs at 58 and 17 wickets at 16.41 - with the State Medal.

Central Districts allrounder Aimee Mason won the women's equivalent State Plate.

In women's cricket, Canterbury players won both major awards, with Haidee Tiffen taking the Ruth Martin Cup for batting and Rebecca Steele winning the Phyl Blackler Cup for bowling.

The Bert Sutcliffe Medal for services to cricket went to former test captain and national selector Graham Dowling, also a former secretary of the New Zealand Cricket Council.

- NZPA