Stephen Fleming described his New Zealand cricket team as one of the few who have finished recent tours of Australia in a positive and confident frame of mind, and he will insist on a full-power effort against Bangladesh in their two Tests here later this month.

Speaking at Auckland airport after his return today, Fleming said he was not inclined to look past the Bangladesh Tests to the one-day series in Australia in January and the home series against England in February-March.

"We expect to win against Bangladesh, and win well," said Fleming.

"We loved our tour of Australia and we are loving playing Test cricket. We have played very good Test cricket and we want to stamp our authority on Bangladesh.

"Some of the guys who played well in Australia want to continue that form. Some of the others want to prove a few things.

"So it is good that we are already talking and making plans for Bangladesh. We do not know much about them, so we will have a lot of work done with the guys who will play for Auckland against them next week."

Offered the comment that Australia media men were high in their praise of his captaincy and on-field leadership, perhaps stemming from the time he took a strong hand in team organisation late last summer, Fleming said he baulked at accepting all that sentiment.

"If I seemed more outgoing on the field it was because the players were maturing together. We had done our homework on the Australians, we all had a good understanding of what we had to do. I do not think there was really a direction change, more a matter of a group of players maturing together."

However, Fleming said he could trace a new attitude back to his season with Middlesex in England county cricket.

"That time with Middlesex enthused me. One aim was to work on my batting which is an important part of leadership. But I also became very enthusiastic about things we had been doing in New Zealand. I realised that we were a lot more advanced than we thought.

"I came back with plans and ambitions. The key thing I realised what very good players we already had. It was then a case of maturing the players, working on their confidence."

The sudden Test-match success of Lou Vincent as a batsman and Shane Bond as a front-line bowler was something of a bonus from Australia, said Fleming, but he pointed out they had already been earmarked for the future.

"Shane Bond was a big find on the tour, with his extra pace. He may still be raw, but he has a great appetite for learning about cricket, and he is one player who will develop very quickly, who will play a major part in New Zealand cricket in the future."

Vincent and Bond, said Fleming, had filled vacant holes in the New Zealand team jigsaw. However, Fleming still sees a place for a fully fit Dion Nash in the New Zealand side.

Told that Nash hoped to play for Auckland against Bangladesh next week, Fleming said that Nash was one man whose attitude to the game had been a catalyst for many of the good things that had happened in New Zealand cricket - "and he is certainly one guy we look to make an impact."

And, with a smile creeping across his lean sun-tanned face, Fleming added the final touch to the picture of a New Zealand cricket captain happy with his lot - "I am certainly enjoying my cricket more" - and the future of his team.

He agreed with the CricInfo correspondent's view New Zealand might have perhaps 20 Test-quality players ready for action.

"Not very long ago, we might have had five or six."

© CricInfo