Chris Cairns

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Chris Cairns

Personal information
Full name Christopher Lance Cairns
Born 10 October 1949 (1949-10-10) (age 59)
Picton, Marlborough, New Zealand
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right arm fast-medium
Role All-rounder
Relations Lance Cairns (father)
International information
National side New Zealand
Test debut (cap 168) 24 November 1989: v Australia
Last Test 13 June 2004: v England
ODI debut (cap 76) 13 February 1991: v England
Last ODI 8 January 2006:v Sri Lanka
Domestic team information
Years Team
1990 – 2006 Canterbury
1988 – 2003 Nottinghamshire
1988 – 1989 Northern Districts
Career statistics
Tests ODI FC LA
Matches 62 215 217 424
Runs scored 3,320 4,950 10,702 10,367
Batting average 33.53 29.46 35.32 32.60
100s/50s 5/22 4/26 13/71 9/55
Top score 158 115 158 143
Balls bowled 11,698 8,168 34,252 16,620
Wickets 218 201 647 455
Bowling average 29.40 32.80 28.31 27.99
5 wickets in innings 13 1 30 6
10 wickets in match 1 n/a 6 n/a
Best bowling 7/27 5/42 8/47 6/12
Catches/stumpings 14/– 66/– 78/– 118/–

Source: Cricinfo, 26 November 2008

Christopher Lance Cairns, ONZM, (born June 13, 1970) is a former all-rounder who played for the New Zealand international cricket team, the Black Caps, and is son of former New Zealand cricketer Lance Cairns. He starred in both the One-day and Test New Zealand teams, as well as the Canterbury New Zealand domestic championship team. Cairns also captained the Black Caps on seven occasions, usually when regular captain Stephen Fleming was unavailable. He was described by Shane Warne, the Australian leg spinner, as the best all-rounder in the world. Cairns finished his Test career with averages very similar to Ian Botham, who is considered by some to be Test cricket's greatest all rounder. Botham's batting average was 33.34 and his bowling was 28.40. Cairns' batting average was 33.53 and his bowling was 29.40. In 2000, Cairns was named as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year.

Cairns batting

Cairns was a brutal batsman who could hit big sixes straight down the ground when on song and in his earlier days was an intelligent fast-medium bowler. Since then, persistent injuries have forced him to drop his pace and rely more on his hard-to-read slower ball.

With the bat, Cairns has been the author of some of New Zealand cricket's most memorable innings, including his unbeaten 102 to win the final of the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy (now the Champions Trophy) for NZ against India in Kenya, and his 158 from just 172 balls in a Test against South Africa in 2004. Cairns famously knocked Shane Warne out of Australia's bowling attack during a 2000 test in Wellington when he launched several sixes out of the Basin Reserve and onto the adjacent street. Cairns formerly held the world record for most sixes in Tests (87, since surpassed by Adam Gilchrist), and shared the NZ record for fastest century in ODIs (75 balls, since surpassed by Craig McMillan).

With the ball, Cairns' finest performance was 7/27 against the West Indies in a Test in 1998, and he is New Zealand's third highest wicket taker in Tests, after Richard Hadlee and Daniel Vettori.

He is also one of only seven players to have reached the all-rounder's double of 200 wickets and 3000 runs. Out of these seven players, Cairns reached the double 2nd fastest (58 Test) behind Ian Botham. In ODIs, Cairns came agonisingly close to another double of 200 wickets and 5000 runs. Cairns finished his ODI career on 4950 runs, just 50 short. Cairns Test batting average at number 7 (44.02) is the 5th best average for that position of all time.1

The New Zealand Herald journalist, Richard Boock said this about Cairns -

"It's not a scientific measure of course, but if Cairns' body had held together long enough for him to have played 100 Tests, his figures extrapolate out to something like 5334 runs and 351 wickets - very similar to those of Botham." He went on to say "He was, and should be remembered as, one of the game's best all-rounders."

Cairns also played in the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal ODI, at the MCG. Cairns played for the ICC World XI and scored 69 off 47 balls before being stumped by Kumar Sangakkara off the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan. During his innings, Cairns put a 91 run partnership on with captain, Ricky Ponting. With the ball, Cairns picked up 37-1 off 6 overs.

Injuries plagued Cairns throughout his career and perhaps contributed to his statistics not quite matching his perceived ability. There remains some controversy about how good a player he actually was (see, for example [1]). In Cairns career he played 62 Test and missed 55 due to injury.

Cairns also played for Northland in the Hawke Cup.

Retirement

Cairns retired from the New Zealand Test team in 2004. On January 22, 2006, Cairns announced his retirement from ODIs in a tear-filled press conference. A Twenty20 match against the West Indies on February 16, 2006 was his last game representing New Zealand. He was also part of the ICC World XI that played in the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal matches. The New Zealand Herald compared his retirement to those of Michael Jordan and Björn Borg on February 15, 2006. Cairns also left the door open for a comeback, but said "I don't think I could ever be tempted back".2

In Cairns' final game, he bowled 4 overs for 24 and no wicket and scored 0 off 9 balls with the bat and was cleanly bowled by Chris Gayle. He also missed the stumps in both attempts during the bowl off. Cricinfo describe his final international as "an unfitting farewell" and that "he deserved better" 1. Dwayne Bravo took his final wicket, bowled.

He has joined the Indian Cricket League, and is currently the captain of the Chandigarh Lions. He is currently playing for Nottinghamshire in the English Twenty20 cup competition.

His sister Louise was killed at Rolleston in an August 1993 train accident; in September 2008 he completed a 1,001 km walk promoting rail safety awareness.3

References

  1. ^ Basevi, Travis (11 October 2005). "Best averages by batting position". Cricinfo. Retrieved on 2008-09-21.
  2. ^ Boock, Richard (15 February 2006). "Cairns prepares for final bow". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved on 2008-09-21.
  3. ^ "Cairns battles emotions at end of trek". New Zealand Herald (22 September 2008). Retrieved on 2008-09-21.

External links

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 26 November 2008, at 19:34.

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