Coach Fleming inks fresh three-year deal with Chennai Super Kings

Wellington/Chennai, Oct. 29 : Former New Zealand cricket captain and current coach of the Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings Stephen Fleming has inked a fresh three-year coaching deal with them.

Fleming has been a big success at Chennai, guiding them to the IPL and Champions League Twenty20 double this year.

"I''ve jumped the gun and signed another three years. It''s good timing; I''m lucky to be on the right side of this one," the Dominion Post quoted Fleming, as saying.

But despite his flying start to coaching, a shot at the New Zealand job doesn''t interest Fleming.

"To win two things so early on in a coaching career is pretty satisfying. You can put them in the bank and trade off them a little if you want to get into coaching but I''m just pretty happy with two months a year at Chennai," Fleming said.

He doesn''t yet have a confirmed lineup to coach, with a new IPL player auction to take place before next year''s tournament.

Franchises can retain four players, meaning his Indian stars, M S Dhoni and Suresh Raina, will probably stay put. Otherwise, Fleming has plenty on his plate.

He manages international Brendon McCullum, and the pair has combined with business partner Simon Baker to launch CricScore, an application for iPhones, the iPod touch or iPads.

Rather than the humble scorebook, it makes scoring a game easy and the statistics and scoreboards can immediately go online.

The next plan is CricCoach, a coaching application where parents or rookie coaches receive specialised coaching tips from current internationals like McCullum.