Stars coach Stephen Fleming says secret to T20 success is not caring about the result

MELBOURNE Stars coach Stephen Fleming has developed a unique way of approaching Twenty20 cricket.

Stephen Fleming hopes to deliver the Stars the title this season.

MELBOURNE Stars coach Stephen Fleming says the secret to success in Twenty20 cricket is to not care about the result.

“I don’t really care,” Fleming said in Wellington, where the Stars will play warm-up games this week.

The former New Zealand Test skipper’s first season as coach of the Stars ended like it always does for the men in green, without a title.

They did go closer than ever before, reaching the final in Big Bash League 05 and losing to the Sydney Thunder.

Fleming’s coaching record includes Indian Premier League and Champions League titles. He has made cricket fun again for skipper David Hussey, who is playing on at 39.

Kevin Pietersen’s ability to irritate teammates brought his international career with England to a premature end in 2014. The brilliant batsman has found peace at the Stars where Fleming asks his players to prepare well and then see what happens.

“You can get a little bit caught up, as a career coach, in a lot of results,” Fleming told stuff.co.nz.

“But (T20) is so fickle that if you lived every game, every ball, then you’d be an absolute wreck by the end of your first or second season.

“I flippantly say that (I don’t care), but I actually just love the game.

“I’m not a career coach, but I really enjoy being part of a franchise and moulding a sporting team without the 12-month commitments that being a career coach brings with it.”

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Stephen Fleming hopes to deliver the Stars the title this season.

Fleming says the beauty of the T20 game is that it’s so quick.

“You’re asking the captain to make a decision every ball,” said Fleming, 43.

“There’s not many other sports that do that. You might get one or two decisions on how to take a penalty, or which way you’re gonna go.

“But cricket and T20 is constantly asking decisions to be made by the leader, and I just think that’s magnificent.

“In an environment where most of the decision making is heading to the sidelines, with coaches and managers making key decisions, you’ve still got the majority of the influence on the field.

“That’s the romance, I think, in T20. It happens so fast, so there’s going to be mistakes, and there’s going to be split-second decisions that will turn out wrong.

“But that’s part of the sport.”