Talking cricket and golf with Stephen Fleming
Popular New Zealand sportsman Stephen Fleming talks to Neville Idour about golf, cricket, and life.
Stephen Fleming forged his name in New Zealand history as one of the country’s best cricket captains and batsmen, and post retirement has proven to be one of the top coaches in the T20 Indian Premier League.
The current head coach of five time winning IPL team, the Chennai Super Kings, Stephen’s also a keen golfer, enjoying the social aspect of the game, and his role as an ambassador for the NZ Open.
Sport has always been a big part of his life. Raised in Christchurch by his mum in a single parent family, cricket and rugby were initially to the fore, with golf coming later.
“Mum loved sport. She encouraged me to participate in rugby in the winter, cricket in the summer, and sports in between. She’s also a sports fan, and was very willing to take me to practices and so forth,” he says.
Likewise he’s introduced his own three children, Taylor, Cooper, and Addison, to various sports, experimenting to find their fit. “For the girls [Taylor and Addison] there is a bit of basketball, a bit of netball and other sports. My son tried cricket early and didn’t like it, but now is absolutely mad on it and trying to catch up. So I am trying to coach him as best as I can. They are all active which is great.”
Stephen recalls his own “late start” with cricket. “I went to Cashmere High School, which had a nice cricket programme without being too serious. I played the game because I enjoyed being with my mates.
“By the age of 17 and 18, I was making the representative sides, and committed to having a good crack at it. The game really chose me.”
The social aspect, and the challenge, of golf was something he also enjoyed.
“The great thing is cricket and golf work hand-in-hand, so on [cricket] tour we played a lot of golf. That was my way of relaxing, and not thinking about cricket.
Stephen teed off as an ambassador in his first NZ Open in 2014. “I didn’t know what to expect. I played with Mark Brown, and had a wonderful four days where we played well enough to get through to Saturday. Mark was playing well and we had a great Saturday afternoon at The Hills.
“Next thing I am teeing up in the last group of the NZ Open on Sunday. It was like wow how good is this. To this day it is one of my fondest sporting memories because I love golf and I love tradition.”
He’s played a lot more golf since then, especially on his favourite courses, including Wairakei, Clearwater, and Millbrook.
“Some days you can feel you are unbeatable, and on other days you feel like you have new arms. It is just an incredibly difficult game so playing regularly is important because it seems like muscle memory loss with golf is incredible.
“If I don’t hit a ball for a week I am nowhere. So I need repetition to be any good and getting better every time is a great goal.”
Back on the subject of cricket, Stephen, coach of Chennai since 2008, says he’s fortunate to be able to stay involved with cricket, and the best players in the world, thanks to the T20 format.
“You have millions of fans everywhere. It is quite intoxicating to be involved and there are a couple of other T20 tournaments as well. So I feel lucky as it has been like a cricket drug for 20 years. Sometimes when people stop they struggle because it is a big change to go from being a cricket player and tourist to having nothing. To have the ability for three or four months a year to still be doing what I love… very lucky.”
