KEY POINTS:
Former batting great Martin Crowe has called for New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming to step clear of the clutter of management and seize control of his team before it's too late.
Crowe, who took New Zealand within a busted knee of making the World Cup final in 1992, reckons the under-fire Fleming needs to be liberated of the management structure surrounding the present team, so that he can lead from the front at next month's tournament in the Caribbean.
"Fleming needs to get back to where he was in 2002 - when he was at the core of the entire set-up, and knew his players so intimately that he understood what was going on inside their heads," Crowe said yesterday.
"He needs the freedom to make this his team; to do whatever's required in order to be firing for the World Cup. That means doing things his way and empowering him with the knowledge that he not only has full control of the team, but also their full support."
Crowe said an emancipated Fleming would, by definition, be closer to his players, and subsequently appreciate more keenly "which ones were there and which ones weren't" when it came to important on-field decisions.
He said it took a frank meeting with several of his own closest teammates in 1992 to make him feel the same way before New Zealand took the early rounds of the World Cup by storm, their dream run ending at the semifinal stage after his knee gave out during the first innings.
"Before the tournament Wrighty [John Wright], Jonesy [Andrew Jones] and Ian Smith effectively told me that I had the support of the entire team, to stop talking about my dodgy knee and to just go out there and do the business.
"Flem needs something similar. Maybe the coaching staff need to get out of his way a bit. Maybe they just need to back the truck up a bit and let Flem's radar take over.
"He has the tools for the job. People just need to get off his back."
Crowe said Michael Vaughan's brilliant captaincy during England's counter-attacking win against New Zealand on Tuesday was a good example of what a leader was capable of when he could read his teammates so clearly.
"Vaughan was the most influential player on the park the other night and he made a first-ball duck," said Crowe.
"He read his team beautifully. He knew when to bring back an inspired Andrew Flintoff and - in Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood - he was clever enough to turn what was shaping up as a pretty awful day for two players into a pretty good day."
While batting form was the main reason Fleming was coming under so much scrutiny, he'd already shown what he was capable of as a captain during the years when he was given free rein, Crowe said.
"In cricket the captain is always your most influential player - it's not like basketball or soccer where there's a lot of interaction from the coach," he said.
"So it stands to reason that he should also be given the power to fully exploit that position.
"In my opinion, that's when we'll again see Stephen Fleming at his best."
