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

Chris Cairns has always had a reputation as a big-hitter and an attacking bowler. There has been a tendency to view him as the imperfect reincarnation of his father Lance. As a potential match winner. Now, however, we need no longer qualify such statements with 'potential'. Over the last year or so, Cairns has proved himself to be a truly great player, in his own right. There has been much discussion of late of this 'coming of age'. It has been referred to as 'the redemption of Chris Cairns', referring as well to Cairns' more mature attitude and off-field behvaiour. With respect to his abilities as an all-rounder, we might call it 'the realisation of Chris Cairns'.

What was the starting point of this phenomenon? Cairns has always had the ability to whack the ball out of the park. I first noticed him as a great player during the 1998-1999 New Zealand home season against India. Cairns scored a century in the second Test. I had the privellige of watching in the crowd when he made 100 (115) off 75 balls during the 5th ODI against India - the fastest ever century by a New Zealander, which included seven sixes. It was one of the most amazing innings I have ever seen. And, in the same game, Cairns took three wickets.

Cairns was unlucky to miss the bulk of the series against the South Africans with a serious calf injury. He went straight to the 1999 World Cup fresh straight from this lay-off, which would easily account for anything found lacking in his bowling. Nonetheless he took 12 wickets, second only to Geoff Allott, and averaged third of the New Zealand batsmen, including some thrilling big-hitting in tandem with Roger Twose, which assured New Zealand's win over Australia.

In the Test series against England that followed, Cairns stepped into a role as opening bowler. While it may have been prompted by the loss of Allott through injury, the opening pair of Cairns and Nash - first and second highest New Zealand wicket-takers of the tour - brought about a small rennaissance in New Zealand cricket. Cairns' 6-75 was crucial in securing his country's 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 second innings total of 162, before Dion Nash's quick wickets added the final impetus that gave New Zealand the series.

Cairns hasn't looked back since. In India, he showed that he can also play long, responsible innings. He was the key player at home against the West Indies, despite a niggling back problem, and claimed his career best Test innings return of 7-27. Cairns was less effective in the one-day series against the world champion Australia. Bowling, he continually tried to attack, and was New Zealand's highest wicket-taker, but was generally expensive. It should be noted, however, that in a team hit hard by injuries to its bowlers, Cairns lacked quality support - and his attitude was commendable. His batting was unremarkable and frequently seemed uncomfortable.

Cairns redeemed himself, however, in the Tests. He took ten wickets, but it was his batting that had even the Australians impressed. They no longer saw Cairns as 'fragile', said the Australians, who won the series 3-0. Cairns averaged 56.83 including his third Test century, and was routinely relied on to step in and bail his team out after each top-order collapse. Cairns 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. At the end of the Thrid Test, Cairns was named the National Bank's International Player of the Summer.

Cairns stands out as a true all-rounder, a truly great player. Although he failed in the scorching Dhaka heat, it seems appropriate that at the end of all this, Cairns should have been the only New Zealand representative in the Rest of the World team who played there in April. He left for Bangladesh the day after New Zealand Cricket's annual awards, where he unprecedentedly took out three awards in one evening: first-class batsman, first-class bowler, and all-rounder of the year. He had also been named the New Zealand Cricket Almanack's Player of the Season for the second consecutive year. The accolades continued to roll in: around the same time he was recognised as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year, and the world's best all-rounder in the Price Waterhouse Coopers rankings.

And who would begrudge him that?

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