<\/p>\n
W<\/span>ith two games of the 2005 season remaining Nottinghamshire, under the captaincy of Stephen Fleming, were sitting precariously at the top of the County Championship, still needing to visit their two main rivals. First up was Kent: Notts were 397 for five after the first day, but rain washed out most of the second and at the end of the third Kent were only five down. A draw looked inevitable, and with a Shane Warne-inspired Hampshire \u2013 Notts\u2019 final opponents \u2013 on their way to victory at Glamorgan the title chase seemed to be turning. But Fleming had other plans.<\/p>\n \u201cHe called a meeting of the senior players on the fourth morning to say he had an idea,\u201d says Darren Bicknell, his Notts teammate. \u201cIf Kent didn\u2019t win the game against us, they were dead, they\u2019d have no way to win the title, so he recognised that he had them over a barrel a little bit.\u201d Fleming offered Kent the chance to chase 420 in 70 overs, an unlikely target \u2013 but also the best they were going to get. \u201cTo take a calculated gamble in that game was a stroke of genius,\u201d Bicknell says. \u201cSome of the senior players were a bit anxious, thinking we didn\u2019t need to take any risks because the draw was still a good result. But people went with him.\u201d<\/p>\n On that final day Kent duly declared their first innings; Notts motored at seven an over until the agreed total was reached then declared also; then Kent, with no choice but to attack, were bowled out for 205. Notts won the title with a game to spare.<\/p>\n England\u2019s interim captain when New Zealand played them the previous year \u2013 Marcus Trescothick, now back in charge of England\u2019s Test side in an interim role \u2013 had admitted his opposite number was \u201cregarded as the best captain in the world\u201d, and here was more proof. Kent\u2019s first man out in that forlorn run chase? Rob Key, the man who has just appointed him England coach.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was just very calm all the time, very unruffled,\u201d Bicknell says of Fleming. \u201cHe worked out the game really well, worked out people very well, but overall he was just calm, even in the hottest of moments. Everyone trusted him to be on everything. I think in moments when things weren\u2019t going well, there was a reflection from him that everything was still all right: just be patient, stay calm, and it will come right as long as we\u2019re doing the right things. He was just a really good man and the sort of person you felt like you wanted to play for. I think he\u2019ll be very good and he\u2019ll bring a sense of common sense and calmness to the whole England set-up.\u201d<\/p>\n Fleming has not always<\/em> been calm in hot moments. There is another widely quoted example of his cricketing cunning: in the fifth of six ODIs in South Africa in 2004 the hosts, needing to win to keep the series alive, came out to chase an achievable, rain-affected target of 178 in 29 overs. As their captain, Graeme Smith, approached the crease Fleming unleashed a stream of invective.<\/p>\n Just three days earlier Smith had described Fleming \u201cchanging his game plan against me in every match so far \u2026 I\u2019m sure he\u2019s just trying to get into my mind\u201d. But as this normally gentle man showered him in abuse, that was all forgotten. Smith responded in kind and then, distracted, scored 15 off 33; New Zealand won by two runs. \u201cGraeme is an emotional guy. That was one chink we thought we might explore and he took the bait,\u201d Fleming later said. \u201cIt was never personal. I made it personal in one game to get the edge.\u201d<\/p>\n