Fleming blames BCCI of bias

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has slammed the scheduling of the on-going triangular series saying it was aimed to suit hosts India. Fl...

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has slammed the scheduling of the on-going triangular series saying it was aimed to suit hosts India.

Fleming criticised the tournament organisers for making New Zealand and Australia play all the day matches in difficult conditions and said the morning starts had ruined his team’s prospects in the triseries.

Fleming should ask his own board,
says Nair
BANGALORE: THE Indian cricket board today hit back at Stephen Fleming for complaining about the scheduling of the ongoing triseries and said the Kiwi skipper should target his own board which had given consent to the itinerary. BCCI secretary SK Nair said that New Zealand’s itinerary was finalised after protracted discussions with its cricket board. “He (Fleming) should ask his own board (about the scheduling),” he said. Nair said the New Zealand board was supposed to consult its players regarding the tour programme. Fleming was quoted as saying by a New Zealand website today that the scheduling was aimed to favour hosts India and criticised tournament organisers for making New Zealand and Australia play each other in day matches in difficult conditions. Fleming also said that morning starts had ruined his team’s prospects in the triseries. Rubbishing the allegation, Nair said not all cricket stadiums in the country had flood-light facility and day-night encounters were scheduled on “rotational basis.”

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“They’ve got it wrong, you can’t start this early with wickets like this, there’s no point. We’ve been on the wrong side of it twice and it makes the next game a lottery too,” Fleming was quoted as saying by a New Zealand website today.

“There’s two competitions going on — one for us and Australia where it seams around and is tough to bat and India play another one where it gets lower and slower then turns. I wonder who did that itinerary,” Fleming said.

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Fleming’s outburst comes a day after New Zealand’s two-wicket loss off the penultimate ball against Australia in Pune which saw the Kiwis remaining at the bottom of the table with three winless matches.

The Kiwis were struggling at five for 68 at one stage in the Pune encounter as the morning start provided a lot of assistance to the seam bowlers but recovered to post a competitive 258 for nine

But the story was quite different in Faridabad last Wednesday when the Kiwis collapsed for a paltry 97 in 33.4 overs against the Australians who won by eight wickets.

Fleming was angry at having to play another day match in Guwahati against Austrlia on November 9 where play was likely to start at 8.30 am due to the early sunset in the north-eastern region.

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“We can complain but it falls on deaf ears because India aren’t playing,” he said.

All of India’s six matches in the triseries are day-night affairs, with the next one in Cuttack on Thursday, a must-win game for the Kiwis. “So much rides on the toss. At least in New Zealand it seams for 100 overs, here it seams for 25 and after that it’s a belter,” Fleming said.

“I’ve talked to Ricky Ponting and he’s not happy either because we know how crucial the toss is.”

Ponting agreed the conditions were playing too big a part after he sent New Zealand in to bat in Pune and watched his paceman Brad Williams take the first four wickets on way to a career-best five for 53.

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“They’re trying to better their wickets for the standard of their own cricket but they’ve just left too much juice in them for one-day cricket,” Ponting said.

“When you are starting at that time of the morning it is bound to swing, and the wickets have had life in them which is tough for the side batting first,” he said.