Cricket: Fleming likely to be back

New Zealand will be without Shane Bond but seem likely to welcome back Stephen Fleming for tomorrow's third Chappell-Hadlee one-dayer at Christchurch.

The side who reclaimed much of their international credibility during Wednesday's hair-raising loss to Australia will name their side this morning, with most interest surrounding the status of Fleming and fellow batsman Lou Vincent.

Ruled out of the first two games after undergoing surgery to have a benign tumour removed from his jawline, Fleming has shown form with the bat since turning out for Wellington last week, and seems a near certainty to be recalled.

However, the news was not as bright for Bond, who apparently has still not fully recovered from the hamstring strain suffered in Auckland and will not be risked for the final match of the series.

The only other concern involves the status of opening batsman Vincent, who received a haematoma at Wellington and was forced to bat with a runner, a hindrance that seemed to have minimal impact on his striking power.

If Fleming is included in the team this morning it's expected he will come in as a probable replacement for James Marshall, and that he'll immediately be reinstalled as skipper, taking over from stand-in captain Daniel Vettori.

Coach John Bracewell yesterday hailed the character of his side after Wednesday night's epic run-chase, when New Zealand failed by just three runs to overhaul Australia's record total of 322 for five.

Under fire in some quarters after New Zealand's poor recent record, Bracewell described the match as a great game of cricket, and said while no one enjoyed being on the wrong side of the result, you had to recognise what an absolutely brilliant contest it was.

"I think we've made a lot of progress as a unit," he said. "Each batter looked independently at what they had to do to try and win the game.

"To get confronted with such a score and respond as they did; it was a magnificent achievement, the way they organised themselves to be competitive."

More sobering was the knowledge that, after squandering three or four match-winning positions during the tour of South Africa, New Zealand somehow conspired to lose another match they'd all but won - with just six needed off the final over, and with two wickets in hand.

However Bracewell insisted New Zealand hadn't forgotten how to win, suggesting the latest losing trend was simply an indication of the fickleness of the game, and the glorious uncertainty of sport.

"If you look back a year or so ago we were winning those tight games," he said. "We were on the winning end of many a last-over match.

"This year that hasn't run our way and I think that's just sometimes just the nature of the game. When you get one that goes for you, you tend to get a flow of them going for you.

"I'm not quite sure why. But the team with the rhythm and the confidence in the clutch tends to get there."

The other area of New Zealand's game demanding attention after Wellington was the death bowling, where Australia - fuelled by Andrew Symonds' 156 - managed to pick up 118 off the last 10 overs, and 87 off the last five.

The late Australian flurry was helped in no small part by Symonds' astonishing hand, but also by New Zealand's persistence in bowling a length delivery, and allowing the batsmen to get under the ball.

"I think we lost 10 per cent of the match out of 100 overs, and that was during our death bowling, which didn't fire for the first time for quite a while," said Bracewell.

"On top of that, it's a little bit hard to measure because I think there was an outstanding innings by Symonds.

"[Michael] Clarke was also outstanding."