St. Peter's: The only time Stephen Fleming's unshaven face betrayed concern was when he had his back to a stray throw from the outfield.

Fleming raised an enormous white glove to the back of his head — one of cricket's foremost — as words of relief hissed between his teeth.

Otherwise on Monday, a day after his 34th birthday, Fleming pretty much had everything his way.

The New Zealand captain may have lost opening bowler Michael Mason to "something to do with the calf" and left-armer James Franklin to migraine.

But, Fleming made all the right moves to keep Bangladesh to 174. He then proceeded with his elongated left-handed strokes to knock off 102 (92b, 10 x 4, 3 x 6) of those himself. In the process, he became the first New Zealand batsman to make 1000 World Cup runs.

GREAT KNOCK: Stephen Fleming led from the front as New Zealand steamrollered Bangladesh in their Super Eight match on Monday. — Photo: AFP

The nine-wicket win was New Zealand's second victory in two Super Eight games. It sets the side up as the thinking man's favourite for the World Cup.

"We were definitely nervous because we were expected to win and win well," admitted Fleming.

"The pressure of not wanting to lose was what we had to deal with, but we learnt a good lesson when they rolled us over (in the warm-up game), and that set us up for the rest of the tournament. We just gave them the respect we'd give any other international side."

New Zealand wrenched the match from Bangladesh in the middle overs. Jacob Oram displaced the openers; Scott Styris caught Aftab Ahmed in a moment of stultifying ineptness; Shane Bond ripped a hole in the middle-order.

"We did well with the ball," said Fleming. "There wasn't much happening off the pitch."

The loss of two bowlers wouldn't have helped matters. "Believe me, that's par for the course," said Fleming. "We're so well used to this, we just flick into patch-up mode to get through, with our back-up and part-time bowlers covering the overs. It's a concern, and going forward we want to eliminate it, but at the moment we've got depth and cover, and today was a good reflection of the way the team is responding to adversity."

Man of the Match Bond's second spell was remarkable. He affords Fleming the crucial ability to strike in the middle overs, which sets up many other things: the non-regulars invariably bowl to new batsmen who are trying to get their eye in. The overs go by in a rush, which further builds pressure.

"When I throw Shane the ball to get a wicket he delivers most times, and that has been key to keeping teams down to low scores," said Fleming. "The way he's been doing it is with subtlety, changes of pace and a little reverse swing, and the length that he's hitting is top-class. It makes captaincy during that period very easy."

Keeping off injuries

Bond's fitness is key to New Zealand's chances, and he knows it. "My injuries are well documented," he said. "So, I try to work as hard as I can off the field so I stay on it."

The 31-year-old fast bowler has 25 wickets in 12 World Cup games at under 16 runs per wicket: numbers that confirm his quality.

Bond makes no secret of his ambition. "It's always a goal to be the No. 1 bowler in the world," he said, "but so long as I can put in performances that help us win, that's all that matters."

Chasing 175 was a matter of playing out the new ball. Mashrafe Mortaza didn't summon the pace that threatened India — captain Habibul Bashar reasoned dubiously that he was asked to bowl line and length on a slowish track — and Fleming and Peter Fulton weren't troubled.

Fulton looked good, using his height to get on top of the bounce, before he threw away a half-century at the very least. Hamish Marshall didn't.

Fleming settled to treat the left-arm spinners with withering contempt, sweeping them high over cow corner, where Irish leprechauns tried catching the ball in their ginger beards!

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