Cairns calls curtains.

[SJS]

Sad career according to me. greatly under performed vis-a-vis his talent.

 

[GermanShepherd]

I believe that would be referring to the hits that connected - and yes, they were amazing. The only player I've seen hit sixes that rival Cairns' would be Smith over in the Windies.

His dad, Lance, could hit some pretty big sixes as well.

 

[BlackCap_Fan]

From S Rajesh's column on cricinfo:

Numbers can never do justice to his talent, but they do provide a perspective of how Cairns's career developed, and why the tag of late bloomer is absolutely apt for him. As the table below shows, Cairns regularly underperformed in the first two-thirds of his Test career – a batting average of 27 and a bowling average of 31 suggested a reasonably good allrounder, nothing more. Put those numbers through the litmus test for an allrounder – the batting average being higher than the bowling average – and Cairns fails to make the cut.

However, the stats for the last one-third of his career show that Cairns's contribution with both bat and ball finally did some semblance of justice to his phenomenal talents. His batting average, especially, showed marked improvement, from a pedestrian 27 to 45, an average that top-order batsmen would be proud of. There were shades of another great allrounder there – Imran Khan weighed in more with the bat once he realised that he wasn't not quite the potent force he once were with the ball.

Except, in Chris Cairns's case, his potency with the ball didn't dimish. On the other hand, as his body became increasingly crocked with injuries, he became increasingly lethal with the ball as well. His last 22 Tests fetched him 88 wickets at less than 27 apiece, at a fantastic strike rate of a wicket every 48 balls – that's nearly as good as Malcolm Marshall, and better than Richard Hadlee and Glenn McGrath.

Runs Aves Wickets Ave
First 40 Tests 1825 27.65 130 31.31
Last 22 Tests 1495 45.30 88 26.58
Career 3320 33.53 218 29.40


And, of course, there's the small matter of all those matches he missed due to various injuries – New Zealand played 119 Tests since Cairns's debut, of which he didn't play in 57. Extrapolate his rate of scoring runs and taking wickets, and Cairns would have ended with career stats of 6372 runs and 418 wickets, becoming the only man to achieve the 6000-run and 400-wicket double.

A strike rate of 48 over his last 22 tests, at an average of 26.58. Incredible. That clearly shows he gave his all until the last ball.

 

[blackcapsrule]

I particularly enjoyed a six he hit in one of the tests between NZ and Australia here in NZ back in 2001, he turned around so he was facing square leg and calmly played a straight drive, hitting the ball from Warne out of the park.

I remember that shot well.

 

[marc71178]

Which is wrong. I doubt there will be a hitter like Cairns for quite a while.

There's a better one on TMS at the moment.

 

[cbuts]

Runs Aves Wickets Ave
First 40 Tests 1825 27.65 130 31.31
Last 22 Tests 1495 45.30 88 26.58
Career 3320 33.53 218 29.40

shows wat a great cricket he matured to be, i think largerly due to steve rixon

interesting to note, that he played 62 tests it hink, but missed 57 due to injureis. imagine the record he could of had...... possibly 6000runs and 400wickets

 

[Piper]

I think when Cairns got going he was perhaps the most dangerous player to bowl to and to bat. I think he was perhaps one of the best hitters ever, and i dont think there will be one like him for a few years yet.

 

[Richard]

Cairns will be sadly missed in Test-cricket. Never thought he quite achieved his potential - genuinely thought he was on his way to a batting average of 35 and bowling of under 27. I think we can fairly safely say that the knee injury he suffered at Christchurch in 2002 made him not quite the same bowler thereafter, his English 2003 with the ball was quite a shocker by his previous standards. Nice therefore that he managed to make a last hurrah the way he did at Trent Bridge. His batting was still OK, though, but after the 84 (when I thought for a short time he was going to break probably the most significant record in Test-cricket - fastest century) he tailed-off in this last series.
As has been said, a top guy to go with it and I hope he achieves his aim of playing in the 2007 World Cup, though continuing to merit a place in New Zealand's ODI team rather than through sentimental mis-selection.

 

[Craig]

There's a better one on TMS at the moment.

Sir Viv Richards?

 

[marc71178]

That's the one.

 

[Mingster]

"There's a better one on TMS isn't it"?

What's TMS? Ain't it that radio thing?

 

[Richard]

No, it's not "that radio thing", it's the BBC's radio cricket-coverage program. Test Match Special has been around for nearly 70 years and it's still a very valuable part of English cricket.

 

[Mingster]

Is Bryan Waddle on it?

 

[marc71178]

I think he is.

 

[Tim]

Nah Waddell hasn't been on for the ODI's. NZ's representitive has been Jeremy Coney.

 

[Smudge]

The random spam bump provides a good opportunity to review the puddle-depth analysis that existed on CW in 2004.