Chappell on the Ashes: Fleming wins lone battle (30 November 1998)
DAMIEN Fleming went through a lean period when he was 12th man for Victoria after he had worked hard to rehabilitate an injured shoulder, but he has reaped his rewards at the WACA
30-Nov-1998
30 November 1998
Chappell on the Ashes: Fleming wins lone battle
By Ian Chappell
DAMIEN Fleming went through a lean period when he was 12th man
for Victoria after he had worked hard to rehabilitate an injured
shoulder, but he has reaped his rewards at the WACA.
For the couple of years after he injured his shoulder and was out
of Test cricket, Fleming draped his Australia blazer over the end
of his bed as motivation to get back into the team. He did it so
that when the training and all the exercises were a bit of a
grind, he would keep pushing himself to get his shoulder right.
Despite the hard work and some good form leading up to the Gabba,
his position was in jeopardy for the second Test but he won a
tight selection battle with Michael Kasprowicz for the specialist
into-the-wind bowling job.
Finding conditions to his liking on the first day with an
easterly blowing - the ideal breeze for outswing from the
members' end - he capitalised by taking five wickets in an
innings for the first time at Test level.
In the second innings, he pushed up into the Fremantle Doctor -
the prevailing south-westerly - and, bowling accurately at a
lively pace, he regularly found the edge of the bat.
He saved his best in both innings for Mark Butcher, the Gabba
century-maker, twice swinging the ball in and then taking it away
off the seam. It was as if Fleming was saying "Brisbane was your
turn, now I'm taking my chance".
It has been a hard road back for Fleming, who took a hat-trick on
his Test debut, but he seems to have found serenity in a short
run. A seven-pace approach has him better balanced at the point
of delivery and he has lost none of his pace. If anything, he is
bowling a little quicker than when he first played for Australia.
After a reasonable comeback via the one-day side in India and
Sharjah, he served further notice at the Commonwealth Games that
his rehabilitation was complete.
It was noticeable that Graeme Hick could dominate with Fleming
off the ground injured and he will be keen to get back on to try
to put an end to any England heroics.
He will also be keen to take one more wicket and make it 10 for
the match - a reasonable reward for anyone who went through
looking at that awful, gaudy blazer every night for two years.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)