“I rate it highly because of where we are, There have been a lot of New Zealand teams that have been battered and bruised at this ground and in the West Indies before. That provides motivation. The guys have gained a lot of confidence from this performance, so as coach I take a lot of satisfaction from it” Fleming said.
Fleming had a successful encounter on a personal level as well, taking home the Man of the Match award for his first-innings hundred that helped New Zealand recover from being down 117 to 5 on an opening afternoon.
“My innings will rate right up there if we win the series. It’s the same feeling when we won the test at Lord’s in 1999 – we were intent on finishing the series and we got there.”
“We are very young in key areas”: Stephen Fleming
Stephen Fleming expressed his joy at his team’s good outlook.“We went to the West Indies with intensity, I don’t know if they were expecting it but mentally they weren’t with us and they paid the price.”
Image Credits: Twitter/ICC
However, Stephen Fleming issued a warning, predicting that West Indies would mount a strong comeback in the Friday-starting second Test in Grenada. “We are very young in key areas, but have talent, and sometimes when talent gets the taste of success that can be a very dangerous thing.”
Stephen Fleming participated in the 2008 Indian Premier League for Chennai Super Kings. He retired as a player in 2009 and was then named the team’s head coach. The team won the IPL and the Champions League Twenty20 in 2010, and they went on to win the IPL once more the following year.
