Chris Cairns

Chris Cairns Biography

Christopher Lance Cairns was born on 13 June 1970, is a former New Zealand player and former captain of this side.

He was an all-rounder, right handed bat and right arm medium fast bowler.

Considered one of the finest all-rounder in the game when fit, Cairns was an aggressive player with the bat and was equally dangerous with the ball in hand.

Cairns’s father Lance also played Test cricket for New Zealand.

Debut

Cairns made his Test debut in November 1989 against Australia at WACA Ground, Perth.

However his performance was not up to scratch with only 1 run off 9 balls in the first and 28 runs off 67 in the second innings.

In February 1991, Cairns made his ODI debut against England. He did not contribute much with the bat, but he took 2 wickets in 9 overs, giving away 41 runs.

Rise to Glory

Cairns was extremely devastating with his bat in the early days. His unbeaten 102 against India in the 2000 ICC Knockout Trophy Final was one of his most significant knocks for his country.

Another huge performance where he smashed 158 from just 172 bowls came against South Africa’s test line up in 2004.

One of the most memorable innings he had was in 2000, when he absolutely destroyed legendary spinner Shane Warne of Australia launching multiple sixes out of Basin Reserve on to the nearby streets.

Not only batting, Cairns showed his prowess as a bowler in test cricket also. In 1999 against West Indies, Cairns struck with career-best figures of 7/27.

Low Points

Injury was a major concern for Cairns throughout his career, putting him one step back from the best.

He could have played 117 test matches but missed out on 55 just due to multiple injuries.

Club Career

Cairns played for Northland in the Hawke Cup. He also played in the Indian Cricket League, and was captain of the Chandigarh Lions team till 2008.

Cairns Record in Numbers

Cairns is one of the eight players to reach all-rounder's double of 200 wickets and 3000 runs.

He also held world record for most sixes in tests, only to be surpassed by Adam Gilchrist.

A burning proof of his aggressive batting came in that he held the New Zealand record of fastest century in just 75 balls until Corey Anderson blitzed the record by slamming a ton in just 36 balls.

Retirement

Chris retired from test cricket in 2002 against England he wasn't quite productive with the bat, but took 5 wickets, had 5 maiden overs from his 23 over spell.

On 22 January 2006, Chris announced that he would not play any further part in ODI journey’s of New Zealand, with his last ODI being against Sri Lanka resulting in a defeat.

His last T20 match came against West Indies at Eden Park, Chris could not contribute with his batting and was wicketless with the bowl. It was certainly not the farewell he deserved as a player.