Cricket: Fleming's mysterious injury yet to be diagnosed

4.00pm - By MARK GEENTY

CANTERBURY, ENGLAND - Alarm bells are ringing over New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming after he was today labelled a doubtful starter for next week's first cricket test against England.

Fleming's mystery abdominal/groin injury, which has troubled him since November and caused him to miss the tour of Pakistan, flared up again this week and has ruled him out of tomorrow night's (NZT) final four-day warm-up match against Kent.

Coach John Bracewell admitted some angst over his inspirational captain's fitness while Fleming said he was no certainty for next Thursday's test at Lord's.

"I don't know. It's touch and go," a glum Fleming told NZPA.

Remarkably, the injury is yet to be accorded an official diagnosis by medical experts after earlier suspicions it was a hernia.

All that is known is that Fleming suffers serious discomfort when running.

He had a cortisone injection before leaving for England and that appeared to ease the problem, until this week.

Fleming's possible defection would deal New Zealand's series chances a huge blow and would hand Chris Cairns a coveted test captaincy debut in his farewell test tour.

Bracewell though remained cautiously optimistic that Fleming, who led New Zealand to victory at Lord's four years ago, would again lead the side out on the hallowed turf.

"I'm fairly concerned. We're not risking him in this match to give him every chance of playing in the test," Bracewell said.

"He finds it difficult to run, so we're going to take him out of running, give him a good course of treatment.

"He'll have high intensity net sessions so he's getting the batting that is required to keep him sharp enough."

Fleming's injury also adds to New Zealand's top order headaches.

Bracewell confirmed Fleming was an option to open the batting, and with Michael Papps' three consecutive single figure scores in the past week it seemed the Fleming-Mark Richardson opening pair was likely for Lord's.

If Fleming left the No 3 position vacant, Bracewell confirmed the in-form Nathan Astle would fill it.

Cairns will lead the side against Kent tomorrow, with allrounder Jacob Oram earning a rest after his century against Worcestershire, and Kyle Mills joining him on the sidelines after dropping out of test contention due to back problems.

Bracewell wanted Oram to play this weekend, but he also needed another look at pacemen Shane Bond and Chris Martin after the rain-marred past fortnight.

Bond has exceeded expectations with some sharp spells in his comeback from injury and seemed a shoo-in to head off Martin who has struggled with the soft run-ups and the wet ball in the damp English spring.

But Bracewell remained cautious about his star speedster who hasn't played a test for a year after suffering back stress fractures in Sri Lanka last May.

"He's ahead of where we all thought he would be.

"But we've got to keep level-headed on that. While it's tempting short-term, we have to make sure the long-term plan is the key."

Bracewell meanwhile reaffirmed his faith in spinner Daniel Vettori, amid reports England were considering an all-seam attack for Lord's, which offers little joy for spinners this time of year.

"We would like to go in with the perfect balance and that very much includes Daniel Vettori. I would very much doubt he would miss out."

Vettori's confidence was returning after taking three for 47 against Worcestershire in the wake of Graeme Hick's savage 204 not out on Monday.

Meanwhile, Bracewell expected a full-strength Kent side including recent England test batsmen Robert Key and Ed Smith to provide a stern workout.

He even expected Kent to go against the norm and play their overseas imports -- Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds and Pakistan paceman Mohammad Sami.

- NZPA