Fleming to steer clear of verbal bash with Smith

Stephen Fleming says that he will not resort to a verbal spar with Graeme Smith when his side arrive in South Africa next week for a three-Test series. Fleming inflicted a verbal volley on an inexperienced Smith when South Africa toured New Zealand in 2004 but insisted he had no plans to repeat such an approach.

"Graeme is developing as a captain and stamping his style and authority on this South African side, but it was a one-off. I've stated that right from the outset. It's not my style," Fleming told stuff.co.nz. "We know this tour is going to be tough, full stop, but you get that [psychological advantage] by playing well and winning. If there's any other area to exploit we'll look at it."

Buoyed by his side's series win over West Indies recently, Fleming said that he was looking forward to the challenge of facing South Africa at home. "With this side we've got going, cricket-wise, we've got some good players and they're fully fit," he said. "Often when we've toured other countries we've been substandard because of our fitness and having new players in the side coming up to speed. But with this series against West Indies we've been able to introduce new guys who have played well, and older guys who have put up their hand and played well through the summer."

However, he added that there was room for improvement. "All areas need to keep improving," he admitted. "We weren't as polished as we wanted to be in both Tests [against West Indies]. We had opportunities to nail both Tests, but we didn't take them so it became even more of a struggle. Even in the Test we won by ten wickets we could have put that away better in the first innings." Fleming also acknowledged his side's poor record against South Africa, whom New Zealand have never beaten in a Test series. "We have to make sure if South Africa come at us harder, we're more professional in the positions we get into," he said.

The first Test at Centurion beginning on April 15 will see Fleming become the first New Zealander to play 100 Tests. "I'll [be] very rapt with the milestone," he said. "Once I take the field and get it under my belt it will be nice. It's something I've wanted to do for some time and it will be nice to perform well in that Test and to win would be great."