Profile of Chris Cairns

Christopher Lance Cairns
Born: Picton, 13 June 1970
All-rounder
Bats: right-hand
Bowls: right-arm fast-medium

Chris Cairns, son of legendary big-hitter Lance, was destined almost from birth to play for New Zealand. He excelled from an early age in youth and club cricket, and left school early to take up a cricket scholarship in England. He made his Test debut in Australia aged just 19 and, though immediately hampered by one of the innumerable injuries that was to plague his cricketing career, he quickly became a regular face in the New Zealand side. Cairns' early career was also marred by behavioural problems, culminating in his infamous run-ins with the Turner regime, and a nagging inability to consistently translate his obvious talent into the world-class performances he, and the New Zealand team, needed. The words "potential", "son of Lance" and, at times, "bad attitude" haunted him through a decade of international cricket.

The summer of 1998-99 was a turning point. The Black Caps began to turn around their fortune and reputation as an international cricketing force, and Chris Cairns' "coming of age" played a major role in that renaissance. That season Cairns struck a 75-ball one-day hundred, the fastest by a New Zealander, against India on his home ground in Christchurch, and took three wickets in the same match. It was his 100th one-day game, but arguably the beginning of the most successful period of Cairns' career. Fittingly for a player whom critics were at last releasing from the shadow of his father, that innings included seven sixes - one better than Lance's record.

Cairns was unlucky to miss the bulk of the next series, against South Africa, due to a serious calf injury. That lay-off would easily account for anything found lacking in his bowling when he next played for the Black Caps, at the 1999 World Cup. He nonetheless took 12 wickets, second only to Geoff Allott, and averaged third of the New Zealand batsmen. Cairns' efforts with the bat included some thrilling big-hitting in tandem with Roger Twose, which sealed New Zealand's victory over Australia in Cardiff.

The Test series in England that followed was another turning point in Chris Cairns' career: when Geoff Allott was injured, he stepped into a full-time role as a new ball bowler, in tandem with Dion Nash. The pairing reaped immediate reuslts and they were, respectively, New Zealand's first and second-highest wicket-takers on tour. Cairns' 6-75 secured New Zealand's historic first-ever victory at Lords'. In the final Test, Cairns again tore through the English with 5-31 and salvaged New Zealand's batting with a vital 80 in the paltry second innings total of 162, before Dion Nash's quick wickets added the final impetus that gave New Zealand the series.

Many of his team mates have singled out the 1999 tour of England as the high-point of their careers, and Cairns' all-round form was the keystone of the Black Caps' success. Moreover, while Nash was soon injured, Cairns sustained his outstanding form to consolidate his position as the team's single most important player. By then Chris Cairns had left any stigma of unrealised potential far behind him. He also anulled the continual comparisons to his father by bettering Lance's wicket tally: in India in 1999 he became New Zealand's third highest wicket-taker in Tests, and also showed his ability to bat long, responsible innings.

Despite a niggling back complaint, Cairns took ten wickets when the West Indies toured New Zealand, including his career-best innings return of 7/27. He also performed strongly against the rampant Australians in early 2000. He took ten wickets in the Test series, but it was his batting that had even the Australians impressed. He averaged 56.83, including his third century, and was routinely required to bail out his team after each top-order collapse. Cairns also overcame the demons that Shane Warne's bowling had caused him in the past, by several times belting the leg-spinner out of the park.

Ultimately, New Zealand lost the series, but Cairns was National Bank's International Player of the Summer. It was the first of many accolades cairns would recieve during the year 2000. At New Zealand Cricket's annual awards, he unprecedentedly took out three trophies in one evening: first-class batsman, first-class bowler, and player of the year. Cairns was also named the New Zealand Cricket Almanack's Player of the Season for the second consecutive year, reconised recognised as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year, and the named the world's best all-rounder in the Price Waterhouse Coopers rankings.

Later in the year, Cairns scored two centuries during New Zealand's long tour of Africa: a Test century in Zimbabwe, and his perfectly paced unbeaten 102 against India which secured for New Zealand their innaugral international trophy at the 2000 ICC KnockOut in Kenya. It was perhaps the greatest one-day innings by a New Zealander, and Cairns' achievement was even more remarkable for the fact that he was struggling with a degenerating knee problem which soon kept him out of the Tests in South Africa. Unfortunately for a New Zealand side hard-hit by injuries to key men, it was increasingly obvious that Cairns - however crucial a player - could not "play through pain" forever.

Cairns attempted to return for the following home season but immediately broke down again and ultimately underwent knee surgery in early 2001. He made his comeback in time for the Test series in Australia at the end of the year and produced some important performances against Australia and Bangladesh that season, including a match winning one-day century against South Africa, a game for which he was also stand-in captain. During the Test series against England, however, Cairns suffered another knee injury which necessitated more surgery and another long lay-off, and left him stranded on 197 Test wickets.

Cairns did not rejoin the Black Caps until early 2003, just weeks before the 2003 World Cup, and then only as a batsman. Nonetheless, the selectors took the gamble and Cairns was soon on his way to South Africa with the Cup squad. That gamble did not quite pay off: another injury – an abdominal strain – and his ongoing rehabilitation from knee surgery prevented Cairns from playing a full role at the World Cup. While he made reasonable contributions with the bat, he bowled just a handful of overs and was generally rusty and expensive. His spell against Zimbabwe, however, produced a heartening two wickets and grounds for optimism that Cairns was on his way back. He went on to Sri Lanka for the one day series there, then to England on a county cricket contract.

At Nottinghamshire, Cairns was sidelined yet again with a broken finger, another frustrating setback in his return to form and fitness. But - though his perseverence must have been strained almost to breaking point - Cairns battled on, returned earlier than expected, and finished the season regularly bowling a full workload and with some strong all-round performances to his name. His final outing, for example, yielded 2 wickets for 14 and a rapid 76 runs against Scotland. Cairns had indicated that he would only continue to play for New Zealand if he could contribute in all-round capacity, but his most recent performances and his availability for the Black Caps' forthcoming one-day tournament in India suggests that Cairns feels he is on-target.

"Coming of age" can be a tired theme but Chris Cairns himself admits it applies to him. That coming of age began in the summer of 1998-1999 and heralded the high point of his career which continued for two years. He was, over that period, almost certainly the world's greatest all-rounder. At the same time, Cairns - once the bane of cricket administrators - matured into a model sportsman who carries his PR responsibilities and role-model status with pride. He has also been called upon often as a captain by Nottinghamshire and when Fleming was unavailable, and acquitted himself well when given the opportunity.

Unfortunately, from the year 2000, a cruel succession of injuries have prevented Cairns - now 33 - from performing to his full ability. Hopefully, however, Cairns' hard work to regain form and fitness and New Zealand Cricket's patience will be repaid in India and at home this summer, when the Pakistanis and South Africans visit. After all, in alost a decade and a half of international cricket, Cairns is yet to play South Africa in a Test. That is both a measure of the impact injuries have had on his career and, surely, an incentive to make a complete comeback this season.

Profile by Kit, 4 October 2003

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