New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming admitted it was time he scored a century against Australia to ensure the Black Caps were not trampled in tomorrow's First Test at the Gabba.

The Australian bowlers have strangled Test batting orders during the past two years and Fleming said it would be his job to ensure the Kiwis didn't suffer the same ending.

Fleming hasn't been a shining light for his team against Australia since scoring 91 in his opening trans-Tasman Test at the Gabba four years ago.

He can hum along like a Formula One vehicle at the crease but his record of 29 half-centuries and just two centuries shows enough about Fleming's inability to build big innings.

"You're dead right and it's one aspect that I really want to put right," Fleming said.

"I spent half a year with Middlesex this year getting back to learning the skills of batting.

"One thing in my career, getting into the New Zealand side early, I didn't know the art of batting for a long time and getting hundreds.

"That sounds arrogant but things came a little bit easy and at Test level there are no easy times and I've probably been exposed a little bit in that 60 to 100 mark."

Fleming won't be given an inch by an Australian team which realises his importance to the Kiwis, but rival captain Steve Waugh has already sent Fleming an encouraging note.

"I respect him enormously as a player and I think once he makes that breakthrough of consistently getting hundreds he'll never look back," Waugh said.

"I know what it's like to fall short of a hundred a few times and once you make that break your game tends to change."

Waugh followed that path, racing into third spot on Test cricket's all-time run-scoring list by scoring 22 centuries in the last 79 of his 139 Tests.

After 60 Tests, Waugh had only five centuries and 2988 runs, well behind Fleming's haul of 3596 from the same number of matches.

But Waugh didn't have to worry about captaincy during that time while Fleming has been shouldered with the responsibility for most of his career.

He's now thinking about the duel with Waugh as New Zealand tries to win just its second series in Australia.

"That does excite me to go head to head with him because he has a great record," Fleming said.

"But it's the pawns that win the game. If I can move them around well enough then we might have a shot.

"All the statistics say we're not going to be there but if it comes down to a desire and a want to compete, then we've got it.

"(Statistics) won't determine the outcome of this Test series."

© 2001 AAP