Cricket: India's revenge? It's enough to make a sick skipper laugh

By RICHARD BOOCK

It says something that Stephen Fleming, crook with the flu, catatonic with jet-lag and still jumping on and off aircraft, can raise the energy to laugh.

But he has just been asked to consider the likely pitch conditions in India this month, when New Zealand arrive for a return series that includes two tests and a limited overs tri-series

New Zealand destroyed India at home last summer on pitches so green that off-spinner Harbhajan Singh described them as "gardens," and NZ Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden called for an inquiry.

Not surprisingly, India have been eagerly awaiting New Zealand's reciprocal tour, and several commentators and players have warned that the visitors will find conditions stacked against them.

Fleming was feeling under the weather when he arrived back on Wednesday after finishing his stint with county side Yorkshire, and had less than a day's grace before flying to Christchurch for a national squad training camp.

But he couldn't help spluttering with laughter as he considered the prospect of playing an Indian side in anything but extremely unfavourable conditions.

"I can't understand some of the comment, to be honest," he said. "It's as if they're saying, 'Wait till we get you over here. We're going to prepare slow, dry, turning tracks.' Well, what's new?

"It was that sort of attitude that made me laugh last summer. The conditions here weren't good - they were extreme - but considering India's history of pitch preparation, they didn't have a lot to complain about."

Fleming said New Zealand were a resilient side who had climbed the test-ranking ladder through their ability to adjust to foreign conditions and make the best use of the resources at hand.

He cited the success in the West Indies and on the more recent tour of Sri Lanka as evidence of the team's growing ability to be a threat abroad.

"There seems to be a real determination from India to make it as hard as possible for us, after what happened here last summer.

"If that's the case we'll respond pretty well because there's a lot of character within the side.

"The good news for us is that conditions shouldn't be overly different to Sri Lanka, where we learned a lot on our last tour - especially in terms of combating slow bowling, and developing our own. We've a taken a bit of confidence from that."

New Zealand first toured India in 1955-56. They have been back six times since, but have never managed to win a series.

Out of 24 tests played in India, New Zealand have won only twice: in 1969 at Nagpur and in 1988 at Mumbai, when coach-in-waiting John Bracewell took six for 51.

"It's the toughest tour you can go on, and at the same time it has the possibility of being one of the most rewarding," Fleming said.

"We haven't done very well over there in the past, but that always excites me because there's the chance to create some history."

Fleming played tidily for Yorkshire, averaging 39.08 in first-class play and 47.50 in one-dayers.

His one-day runs came at an impressive strike-rate of 104.01.

He did not score as heavily as he would have liked, but still felt good about his form, playing so well that runs were almost coming too quickly for his own good.

"I was still getting into really good positions and putting the ball away.

"But with it came a desire to score quicker and accelerate, so I'm finding that I'm having to calm myself down."