5 vice-captains who could have made good captains

4. Chris Cairns

With a fit and delivering Stephen Fleming in the side, Cairns captaincy services were never needed in Tests

Long before he became a prime accused in match-fixing controversy, Chris Cairns was the blue-eyed boy of New Zealand cricket who could do anything with both the ball and the bat. After all, he had got it in his genes. But one thing Chris Cairns never dabbled with was captaincy. Cairns represented the Black Caps in 62 Tests from 1989 to 2004 and was at one point the most reliable player in the side with both the bat and the ball.

But he was never trusted with the captaincy of the Test side and one can only wonder why. He spent a long time as vice-captain of the side as Stephen Fleming handled the leadership duties in 80 Test matches but all he managed was an opportunity to lead the team in 7 ODIs at the fag end of his career. Could Cairns, who had 87 sixes in 62 Tests, be as attacking as captain as he was with bat and ball. Well, we would never know.