Fleming ready to lead the side in Pakistan

Four New Zealand players have opted out of the Pakistan tour, to begin next week after the tri-series with India and Australia in India.

Craig McMillan, Scott Styris, Ian Butler and Lou Vincent, plus video analyser Zach Hitchcock, were all in Karachi in May 2002 when a suicide bomber killed 12 French nationals outside their hotel, and were not prepared to return to the country.

Fleming told the New Zealand Herald newspaper in Hyderabad, where New Zealand were preparing to play India to decide who meets Australia in the final of the tri-series, that the challenge for his side was to get over concern about Pakistan and concentrate on the game against India.

On the Pakistan issue, Fleming said the team had a lot of confidence in the assessment of the chief executive of NZC Martin Snedden.

"The record shows he's got our best interests at heart and we take a lot of confidence from that. He's very thorough and probably leads the way in terms of quality assessment," Fleming said.

Photograph: Reuters