Stephen Fleming

Stephen Paul Fleming is a left handed batsman and a right arm medium bowler with the New Zealand cricket team. He has also played cricket for the Canterbury, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Wellington, Yorkshire, ICC World XI and the Chennai Super Kings cricket teams.

Stephen Fleming started playing first class cricket in 1994. He made his debut in international cricket in a test match against India at Hamilton. He scored 16 runs in 44 balls in the first innings and 92 runs missing his first ton from 177 balls in the second innings. The match was drawn. He played his first International One Day match some days later against India at Napier where he once again missed achieving his century by getting run out at 90 runs which included 8 fours. New Zealand won the match by 28 runs and Fleming was awarded the Man of the Match.

In 1996, he scored his first test century on his team tour to New Zealand. The same year he was also made captain of the New Zealand cricket team, the youngest player to captain the team. Fleming played an unbeaten 134 runs from 132 balls in the 2003 World Cup finals and defeated the South Africans to help New Zealand become the World Champions. It was in 2007, that people saw Fleming stepping down from captaincy.

The same year, he joined the Indian Premier League with the Chennai Super Kings. In 2008, he became the first New Zealand player to cross 7000 runs in test cricket match held against England. He retired from International cricket and the New Zealand team in 2008 and even played for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. He holds the record for captaining the New Zealand team for the maximum number of times, 218 matches.

In a total of 111 test matches, Fleming has scored 7172 runs with a high score of 274 not out, which includes 9 centuries and 46 half centuries. He also has 2 double centuries to his credit. In 280 One Day International matches, Fleming has scored 8037 runs with a high score of 134 not out, this includes 8 centuries and 49 half centuries.

=== Career Highlights ===

Captain, New Zealand, 1996-2007. He made the highest test match appearances(111) and the highest ODI match appearances(280)..

Moreover, Fleming scored the highest runs in test matches(7172), scored the highest runs in ODI matches(8037) and the highest catches in test matches(171).