International class of Fleming, Twose shines through

It's said the truest and toughest test of an international player is that he not only be one but look like one.

In any lesser company he should stand head and shoulders above the crowd, that his quality should be so clear that it is transparent by the most uneducated observer.

Good players stand out.

From that perspective, no-one at the Basin Reserve today who saw the innings of Roger Twose and Stephen Fleming or enjoyed their unbroken partnership of 244 for Wellington against Otago which was a record for all wickets by all teams in the Shell Cup, could have doubted their international status.

Twose's innings of 124 not out, Fleming's of 120 not out, which contributed to Wellington's 102-run win over Otago were performances of such complete and ruthless command, exercises in such manifest authority that the pedigree of their creators could only be self-evident.

Asked to pick out the internationals in these two teams, the most ingenuous novice would easily have lighted on Twose and Fleming for Wellington, who batted in partnership through 43 overs to lift Wellington to 274/2, and Mark Richardson for Otago who carried his bat through their innings of 172 and was 88 not out at its end.

The day was shaped entirely by Twose and Fleming who were drawn into partnership in only the seventh over of Wellington's innings when they were 30/2 after winning the toss and batting. Matthew Bell had been out to the first ball of the second over, bringing Fleming to the wicket with only eight balls of the innings bowled, and Chris Nevin was out to the second ball of the seventh over, bringing Twose to the crease.

They remained together for the next 43 overs and four balls, scoring at an even pace and reaching each of their innings' milestones almost simultaneously. At the end they had created a new partnership record not only for Wellington's third wicket or for all wickets for Wellington but for all wickets for all teams in the Cup and they had done so with apparent effortlessness.

It had to be remembered that Fleming had missed Wellington's match against Auckland two days ago with a groin strain and hadn't entirely erased doubts about his fitness when he came to the crease today. That he batted 195 minutes, through almost 49 overs and took many of his runs from hard-run singles and twos, that he seemed free in his movement, poised and decisive, would have seemed to allay those doubts entirely.

But Fleming was prepared to delay judgment on that issue.

"The injury is okay at the moment but tomorrow will tell the story," he said. "If there's a downside to this innings it's spending the whole day on an injury but it was well strapped and I'll just have to seem how it comes out tomorrow."

This was only Fleming's third hundred in Cup matches, his highest score and his first century in any form of cricket for almost two years but he greeted it with only modest satisfaction. It was clear Fleming enjoying batting and batting successfully in the company of his old mate Twose and there were times in the partnership where their understanding, their mutual judgment of a run was almost intuitive.

But Fleming was only mildly satisfied with his day's work - by no means rejoicing.

"The most pleasing thing for me is that it's just a continuation of my form," he said. "I feel in good form at the moment and I've had some good results in the one-day stuff so I'm just working on continuing that and keeping things simple."

There was a simplicity to his innings today, a matter-of-factness and a singularity of purpose but at the same time there was complexity. It was an innings, as Twose's was, highlighted by the batsmen's flair for innovation. Both found some shots hard to play on a relatively slow Basin Reserve wicket, so they found means to score through improvisation - through reverse sweeps and other shots which are only found in the appendix to the book of cricket techniques.

"We had to try a few new things to score runs out there today because the ball wasn't always coming on and it was hard to play straight. So we both brought out the reverse sweep and a few other shots and that was quite nice because we've had a lot of reverse sweeps played against us lately."

Both players had two sixes in their innings and both crowned those innings with sixes out of the ground - Fleming early in his innings from the spinner Simon Forde and Twose in the last over, when he took 17 runs from Craig Pryor.

But the chart of their totals had that picket-fence quality that good, experienced one-day batsmen achieve because, while Twose hit 11 boundaries and Fleming seven, the majority of their runs were collected from singles.

The quality that Wellington coach Vaughn Johnson appreciated most was the measured and sensible pacing of their innings. Wellington were only 80/2 after 20 overs and 120/2 after 30 but they were able to accelerate steadily through the last 20 overs to reach 274.

Otago, in comparision, were 102/5 after 20 overs and 126/8 after 30 - ahead of Wellington's run rate but losing wickets too quickly to remain competitive.

"I thought Roger and Stephen showed very good pace," Johnson said. "they had a target in mind and with the calibre of the individuals they knew what we needed and got it."

Otago were never in the hunt for Wellington's total - which was substantial in the context of the Basin's slow pitches. Richardson's innings was the only sturdy thread holding together their reply. He batted for 158 minutes and for all the 37.4 overs of the innings reaching 50 in 19.1 overs and 88 by the end.

There were only a few other contributions of note - 25 from Chris Gaffaney who helped him add 40 for the second wicket, 19 from Paul Wiseman who added 39 for the ninth. Otherwise, Otago's innings was in a rapid decline, a decline made more sobering by the fact Wellington dropped three catches.

Gaffaney was dropped before he had scored, Matt Horne on 6 (he went on to double that score) and Richardson on 29.

Chris Nevin, who put down Gaffaney off James Franklin only a ball after Andrew Hore was out, finished with three catches and the stumping of Lee Germon.