As I've said before, she's a hard road being a New Zealand cricket supporter. A week or so ago, just before the first test, I was contemplating a post questioning Stephen Fleming's recent contributions to the team.

Of late he seems to score large against weak opposition, but when the crunch comes against the Aussies, English or South Africans his results have been much less impressive. His average, at under 40, was not exactly stellar for a player of his stature and ability, even taking into account a string of rather unlucky dismissals.

I'm glad I never made that post. In one magnificent innings of 262 he has lifted his average to 40.06, and done it against a really good attack featuring one of the best bowlers around, Makhaya Ntini. Great boy's-own stuff.