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Fleming relaxed ahead of title decider

KENT skipper Matthew Fleming has played down the county's Birmingham bogey ahead of Sunday's Norwich Union League title decider against Warwickshire.

The Spitfires record at Edgbaston over the past decade is atrocious, yet they return there this weekend knowing that only victory over the third-placed hosts will give them a chance of securing their first trophy in six summers.

At the same time, Fleming and Co must hope that long-term leaders Leicestershire Foxes lose or tie at Trent Bridge, where Nottinghamshire Outlaws require victory to avoid relegation.

Ahead of the crunch match Fleming said: "I'll talk to one or two of the side about playing in Birmingham, but you have to remember that our side has evolved over the last couple of years and we haven't played there much in that time.

"For people like Martin Saggers, Ben Trott, Ed Smith, Rob Key, Paul Nixon and Andrew Symonds there is no Edgbaston problem. There's really only Mark Ealham, Min Patel and myself who have played a lot and lost a lot in Birmingham.

"I'm not fazed by it, Ealham's pretty steady under fire and Min is pretty cool about the place, too, so I'm relaxed about the whole thing. The more we mention words like hoodoos and pressure, the more the players will start to see it as an unusual game and the more likelihood there will be of problems arising.

"So, from a captaincy point of view, I will try to keep it as relaxed as possible and just hope that we all do our jobs out in the middle."

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