Cricket: Our own Captain Marvel

Skipper Stephen Fleming and wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum celebrate victory over South Africa. Picture / Reuters

John Bracewell has reaffirmed his belief in Stephen Fleming's ability to lead New Zealand to success in the Champions Trophy and the World Cup.

Speaking on the eve of New Zealand's Champions Trophy clash against Sri Lanka at Mumbai, starting tonight, Bracewell hailed Fleming's longevity as an international captain - and warned that the world was just starting to see the best of him.

Fleming, who took over the one-day side at Christchurch in 1997, overseeing a six-wicket loss at the hands of Sri Lanka, will tonight equal Arjuna Ranatunga's world record of 193 outings as captain.

After nearly a decade at the helm, Fleming underlined his influence during this week's rout of South Africa, playing a captain's role with the bat in trying circumstances, before strangling the opposition with an intuitive performance in the field.

Bracewell said Fleming was a rejuvenated man, and that his determination to keep developing in the position could only be good news for New Zealand, and their upcoming epics in India, Australia and the West Indies.

"I thought Stephen's captaincy in the last game was absolutely outstanding," he said from Mumbai. "There have been challenges put out to Stephen in terms of his leadership, the most obvious being the development of an understudy in Daniel Vettori, and he's not only accepted those challenges - he's relished them.

"I think he's actually revitalised himself and that, if he continues to lead the side in the manner he has done recently - and I'm talking about the clarity of his decision-making, his delivery style and his on-field management - we'll be in pretty good shape for the World Cup."

But Bracewell cautioned against thinking that Fleming could work miracles, saying his team would need to improve dramatically on their effort against South Africa if they were to extract a similar result against Sri Lanka.

He emphasised that playing the Sri Lankans on the sub-continent was completely different to playing them in New Zealand, particularly given the expected slowness of the Brabourne Stadium wicket, and the desperation of the opposition.

Sri Lanka, who went down to Pakistan this week, must win tonight's encounter to give themselves any chance of finishing as one of the top two teams of Pool B, and qualifying for the semifinals.

N EW Zealand will wrap up their semifinal berth with a game (against Pakistan) to spare if they can win tonight, employing a line-up that's almost certain to be without fast-bowler Shane Bond or all-rounder Scott Styris.

"There's no doubt that with [spinners] Sanath Jayasuriya, Malinga Bandara and Muttiah Muralitharan they'll be a completely different proposition to a South African side containing Robin Petersen and Graeme Smith," Bracewell said.

New Zealand are not yet sure what wicket they'll have for the day-nighter, although they at least know it will have already been used in one of the previous three matches played at the stadium so far. That almost certainly means the pitch will be slow and helpful for the spinners, that life will be difficult for the batsmen - and that the team that wins the toss will probably opt to bowl last on a wearing surface.

"The wickets are an exception for this time of year in India because they haven't been renovated after the monsoons, something they always do.

"The upshot is that the blocks are pretty tired in Mumbai and we understand that it might be similar, if not quite as slow, in Mohali."

But he acknowledged that New Zealand were relatively familiar with slow pitches and believed this tournament could act as a valuable refresher course for the World Cup, and what are expected to be similarly difficult conditions for batting.

"We don't know what we're going to be playing on in the West Indies because so many of the World Cup pitches will be brand new. But it could be that they behave very similarly. So this does our game strategy no harm at all. It's great preparation for us."

* New Zealand v Sri Lanka, Live on Sky Sport 1, 9.30 tonight

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Lou Vincent, Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Peter Fulton, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Mark Gillespie, Scott Styris, Shane Bond.

Sri Lanka: Jayawardene (captain), Sangakkara, Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Tharanga, Dilshan, Kapugedara, Maharoof, Vaas, Perera, Fernando, Malinga, Bandara, Muralitharan.