By Oliver Brett

It will not have escaped keen cricket observers that New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming is suffering from rocky form at present.

DOWNWARD SPIRAL 0, 11, 83, 3, 18, 17, 0, 1 are Fleming's last eight Test knocks against Australia

This normally serene left-hander, who has captained his side through eight years of feast and famine, has rarely been at his best against Australia.

But in the four Tests the two sides have played this season, home and away, he sports an average of 22, and the only score of at least 20 has been his 83 in a losing cause in Adelaide.

If ever a batsman was a barometer of his team's general well-being, Fleming is that man.

The current New Zealand side are devastated by injuries and struggling to deliver as a unit under their relatively new coach, John Bracewell.

So when Fleming moves from his usual number three to open the innings in a bid to get his team off to a good start - and fails time and again - it's a mortal blow to the Kiwis.

Incidentally, he averaged just 15.80 in a recent one-day series which Australia won 5-0, so Fleming's problems are not confined to white clothing and red balls.

Inevitably, he has been asked to explain what is going wrong.

"I've made it easy for them," he said - blaming himself rather than the combined might of Messrs McGrath, Kasprowicz, Gillespie and Warne.

"They've got me at a time where there has been a little bit of doubt. I've just got to get that certainty back and that no-fear attitude which is important.

Jimmy Adams looks on during his team's 5-0 reverse in 2000-01

"I want to be the guy to do it. I've played the most Tests and scored the most runs, so it's logical that when the team's under the most pressure you turn to your senior players."

As far as Australia captain Ricky Ponting is concerned, however, Fleming's miserable plight is merely the culmination of another cunning planning that has yet again gone according to plan.

"We try to be very tough and disciplined on opposition captains and try to get on top of them early on in the series," Ponting said.

The two completed Tests in Australia reveal four lbw dismissals out of four - with McGrath claiming three of them.

Old man McGrath, as it happens, has proved something of a nemesis throughout the season, removing Fleming in once in each of the other two Tests.

Captaincy, already a burden in itself, seems an even tougher job to do when the opposition is Australia.

Jimmy Adams, for example, never really recovered after leading West Indies to a 5-0 series whitewash defeat in Australia in 2000-01.

He sports a career Test average of 41.26, but could only manage 151 runs at 18.87 on that tour, with not even the consolation of a single half-century.

Recent England captains - Nasser Hussain and Alec Stweart - have generally held their own, but India's Sourav Ganguly has not.

Ganguly can at least point to the fact India have won at home and drawn away against Australia under his guidance.

But as captain he averages 29.93 against the Aussies compared to a career average of 41.56.

The record of Inzamam-ul-Haq when skippering Pakistan against Australia really takes some beating, though.