KEY POINTS:
There is a sadness about the end of Stephen Fleming's career.
Much was made of his statistics in the lead-up to his final test against England at Napier this week.
In the end, he did lift his test batting average to 40 but I believe the focus on that was a shame and did both him and his contribution to the game a disservice.
From a player's perspective, little attention is paid to the numbers. Whether his career had ended with an average of 39 or 45 would make absolutely no difference to the way he would be regarded by his peers - and that applies to Black Caps and opponents alike.
Fleming's reputation is well set and he is both hugely respected and well liked at all levels of the game worldwide.
And with the passage of time, Flem will come to realise that to average 40, as a New Zealand batsman, is an excellent achievement, given the state of our wickets relative to those in other parts of the cricket globe.
The facts are that we will never produce world-class batsmen in volume and that our conversion rates will always be lower than others due to the sporting nature of our pitches.
In many ways, I think Fleming is ready to move on, with the Indian Premier League providing the perfect vehicle to move quietly into retirement in the next few years.
He will take some pride in the development of his replacement as captain, Dan Vettori, over the past few years, as have all of us who have played with Vettori since he came into our side as a schoolboy back in 1997.
While the final chapter, which saw the leadership pass, has been painful, Fleming is pragmatic enough to know that this was inevitable.
It is a strange thing to come to the end of your road. Ironically, almost all of us finish at a time when we are still playing as well as we always have. In this respect, Fleming certainly fits the bill.
There is no doubt he remains the finest batsman in the country and without question of test quality. But he has no future, and it is this that moves us all inevitably towards retirement.
As quickly as it began, it is over. Flem will have shared a few beers in the changing room at the end of the Napier test and then packed up and gone home. That's it.
Fortunately the memories and the friendships will remain and it is these, not the stats, that will give him great pride in the years to come.
