Stephen Paul Fleming (born 1 April 1973) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former captain of the New Zealand national cricket team, who is the current head coach of Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. He is considered one of the greatest batsmen for the New Zealand national cricket team. Under his Captaincy New Zealand won the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy. He has won 5 IPL trophies with Chennai Super Kings, more than any other coach.
Known for his astute tactical abilities, he is New Zealand's second-most capped Test cricketer with 111 appearances. He is also the team's longest-serving and most successful captain, having led the side to 28 victories and having won Test series against India, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
He is the winning captain of the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy, which is New Zealand's only ICC trophy till date in the ODI format and in limited overs cricket. Fleming captained New Zealand in the historic first Twenty20 International of the world, which was played against Australia in 2005.
He retired from international cricket on 26 March 2008. Fleming played in the 2008 Indian Premier League for the Chennai Super Kings after being signed for US$350,000 and became the team's coach from 2009. In February 2015 he was signed as coach of the Melbourne Stars of the Big Bash League. On 19 January 2018 he resumed his duties as head coach of the Chennai Super Kings in 2018 Indian Premier League season again, after the team was barred from playing in the tournament for two seasons. He coached the Rising Pune Supergiant during this time. He is appointed as the head coach of Joburg Super Kings in 2022 for the SA20 league. In 2023, he was also roped in as the coach of Texas Super Kings for the Major League Cricket. He is one of the best coaches in the IPL so far.
Personal life
Fleming is the son of Pauline Fleming and Gary Kirk. Pauline raised him as a single mother, and he did not meet his father until he was 16, although Kirk had always maintained a keen interest in his son's progress. Both Kirk and Fleming played senior rugby and captained Cashmere High's first XV.
On 9 May 2007, Fleming married his long-term partner Kelly Payne in a ceremony held in Wellington. The couple had a daughter, born in 2006, and a son, in 2008. He had to return to New Zealand just before the semifinals of the IPL tournament for the birth of his second child.
Fleming was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to cricket, in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours.
Domestic career
Fleming has played county cricket in England for Middlesex, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. He captained Nottinghamshire to County Championship victory in 2005, their first Championship title in 18 years.
There was speculation in 2007 that he might join the controversial Indian Twenty20 league, the Indian Cricket League. However it turned out to be unfounded and he later joined the 'official' Indian Twenty20 league, the Indian Premier League, and played for the Chennai Super Kings in the league's initial incarnation.
International career
A left-handed batsman, Fleming made his Test debut in March 1994 against India winning the Man of the Match award on debut after scoring 92. In 1995 he survived controversy when he was caught and admitted to smoking marijuana with teammates Matthew Hart and Dion Nash while on tour at their hotel. In England's tour of New Zealand in 1996–97 he scored his maiden Test century in the First Test at Auckland. In the Third Test of the tour he took over the captaincy from Lee Germon becoming New Zealand's youngest captain at 23 years and 321 days.
Captaincy
He was particularly noted for his captaincy, having been praised from the likes of Shane Warne as the "best captain in world cricket" and most recently, Graeme Swann who said that Fleming is one of the two true leaders that he's ever seen, alongside Andrew Strauss.
Fleming became New Zealand's most successful captain in September 2000 with a victory over Zimbabwe. This was the 12th win under his captaincy overtaking Geoff Howarth. Fleming was regarded by some as an underperformer with the bat, with one of the worst 50 to 100 conversion ratios in world cricket. However, since the 2003 tour of Sri Lanka, Fleming started to gain form, with 274 not out against Sri Lanka – when he declared rather than staying to reach 300 which would have been a record in New Zealand cricket history.