Cairns thinks hes got 1 more series of gas in the tank

[BlackCap_Fan]

A legend moves on

Chris Cairns to retire from Test cricket

What do you think? I think hes making the right choice.Now he can squeeze a year or 3 more of odi cricket.

Article here

**Mod Edit** - please don't copy/paste the whole article into forum threads because of copyright issues.

 

[Mingster]

He wants to play in the 2007 World Cup.

 

[Swervy]

i think its great he is going to play vs england

 

[BlackCap_Fan]

to the mod that edited my post,sorry about that.I won't do it again.

 

[tooextracool]

damn him for playing his last series against england!!!

 

[Craig]

And I have carefully predicted all along that he will retire after England (well in Tests anyway).

Sad to see him go though.

 

[anzac]

I was amazed to read that while he has 59 Tests under his belt, he had missed a further 57 during that time frame!!!!!!

He was the 2nd fastest player to 3000 / 200 behind Botham - just imagine what his career could have been like if he had not been plagued by injury & what that could have meant for NZ cricket!!!!

:O

 

[Swervy]

i firmly beleive that if it werent for injuries, cairns would have been considered one of the all time great all-rounders

 

[Langeveldt]

Good to see that such a great player has chose to have his swansong over here!

 

[Langeveldt]

i firmly beleive that if it werent for injuries, cairns would have been considered one of the all time great all-rounders

I would say there is a bracket with Sobers, Kallis, Kapil Dev in.. and maybe Cairns would be just below that... With guys like Hadlee, Imran Khan, Wasim, Pollock etc..

Definitely Great, but not all time great...

 

[marc71178]

I would say there is a bracket with Sobers, Kallis, Kapil Dev in.. and maybe Cairns would be just below that... With guys like Hadlee, Imran Khan, Wasim, Pollock etc..

Definitely Great, but not all time great...

So let me get this straight, you put Kapil in the top tier, yet Imran and Hadlee are in the 2nd tier and Botham is nowhere?!

 

[Langeveldt]

So let me get this straight, you put Kapil in the top tier, yet Imran and Hadlee are in the 2nd tier and Botham is nowhere?!

I think what Kapil did on indian pitches was worthy of that...

Its midnight and i forgot about the "beef"....

 

[marc71178]

I think what Kapil did on indian pitches was worthy of that...

But what did he do on Indian pitches?

Not a great deal really - and his career bowling average doesn't suggest he did much outside India!

It's been suggested on here in the last couple of days that if he were anything but Indian he wouldn't have come anywhere near 131 Tests and 434 wickets.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

But what did he do on Indian pitches?

Not a great deal really - and his career bowling average doesn't suggest he did much outside India!

It's been suggested on here in the last couple of days that if he were anything but Indian he wouldn't have come anywhere near 131 Tests and 434 wickets.

434 wickets is alot but then so is 131 tests. I mean even i would get 500+ wickets if i played enough tests (ok probably about 1500 tests but you see my point )

 

[BlackCap_Fan]

Dev there but but hadlee or imran?


Bowling wise,Dev got 3 more wickets then Hadlee,but played almost 50 extra tests.

but I think we'll stop talking about that,and talk about cairns retiremtn,not the big 4.

 

[marc71178]

I actually think that talking about the big 4 is relevant in seeing where he fits in with them in the overall scheme of things.

It's strange because I wouldn't have thought of him as being close to them (indeed wouldn't have ranked him number 1 of his generation) but he's the 2nd quickest to the 3000/200 double.

 

[Raj123]

But what did he do on Indian pitches?
Not a great deal really - and his career bowling average doesn't suggest he did much outside India!

kapil's career avg. is about 29, pretty close to botham. so both should be in the same bracket. i dont think botham was any better than dev.

It's been suggested on here in the last couple of days that if he were anything but Indian he wouldn't have come anywhere near 131 Tests and 434 wickets.

from 1990-end to career he averaged at about 26(22 tests) with same batting avg. suggests to me he would have played for any country and still end up with 130 tests. its not his fault that he barely got injured(not bowling express pace obviously helped).

 

[SquidAU]

Let's hope Cairns makes his last series a good one........

 

[tooextracool]

I would say there is a bracket with Sobers, Kallis, Kapil Dev in.. and maybe Cairns would be just below that... With guys like Hadlee, Imran Khan, Wasim, Pollock etc..

Definitely Great, but not all time great...

excuse me.....kapil dev and kallis are in the same bracket as sobers??youve got to be kidding me...sobers was the best allrounder by a country mile. and imran khan was hell of a better all rounder than kapil could ever dream of. khan had to bowl on sub continental wickets too and had a better average than kapil. kallis isnt a complete all rounder...his bowling definetly leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[luckyeddie]

kapil's career avg. is about 29, pretty close to botham. so both should be in the same bracket. i dont think botham was any better than dev.


from 1990-end to career he averaged at about 26(22 tests) with same batting avg. suggests to me he would have played for any country and still end up with 130 tests. its not his fault that he barely got injured(not bowling express pace obviously helped).

For the first 7 or 8 years of his career, Botham was MILES better than Kapil. After 1986, forget it. You could wheel him out every now and again against Australia, but all the motivation had gone.

As you so rightly imply, Kapil matured like a fine wine, whereas Botham went off like a strong ale which had been left out in the air too long.

Actually, when Kapil made his first appearances against the Aussies, their attack included bowlers like Dymock and Hogg and Hurst, so yes he would certainly have got into that side. We had Packer to thank for that, I suppuse.

I forgot about the Packer phenomenon, so all bets are off. In those days, if you were prepared to play for a pittance, you made the test team.