Fleming's unfinished business

Stephen Fleming wants to end the unfinished business of a washed out Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in the five-match series against Australia starting on Saturday. Fleming, the captain of the No.2-ranked side, holds the best winning percentage from last year's one-day internationals and expected a "great scrap" with Ricky Ponting's men.

New Zealand won 76% of their 25 matches in 2004 compared to Australia's 73% of 26, so the teams are as close as their recent results would suggest. "We felt pretty competitive against them in Australia [in December] and that comes from our success rate," Fleming told The Australian. "There's obviously unfinished business from Australia, where there were a couple of close games. If that's an indication of the series to come, it should be a ripper."

Fleming said that his team's growing intelligence and experience were reasons for their matchwinning consistency. "Just as the Australians have self-belief, we have a certain amount of belief in our one-day side, which helps you get out of tight situations," he said.

New Zealand's captain in 169 matches since 1996-97, Fleming said they had also become more familiar with patterns of the game and made sure they used their home conditions effectively. "That's not doctoring wickets," he said. "The grounds we have are football grounds, so you can expose certain areas."