Chris Cairns' Way to Play. Published by HarperCollins Publishers. Price $19.95. Reviewed by Lynn McConnell.

Coaching of skills is the most vital requirement in all New Zealand sports at the moment and while world-ranked all-rounder Chris Cairns might be on the injury list, he has produced a useful coaching guide for young cricketers.

Way to Play gives a hint of what helped Cairns develop into the cricketer he is and puts across some of the etiquette of the game in a way easy enough for young players to understand.

Lavishly illustrated with colour photographs, it also has some interesting extras highlighted throughout.

One of these lists Cairns' top five career highlights to date.

They were: His Test debut in 1989, being part of the victory over England at Lord's in 1999, bowling New Zealand to victory against the West Indies in Hamilton in 1999, victory over Australia at Cardiff in the World Cup in 1999 and winning the ICC KnockOut tournament in Kenya last year.

Cairns also picks his ultimate opposition from players he has competed against.

His team was: Mark Taylor (Australia), Alec Stewart (England), Brian Lara (West Indies), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Steve Waugh (captain-Australia), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Adam Gilchrist (Australia), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Shane Warne (Australia), Glenn McGrath (Australia), Courtney Walsh (West Indies).

Cairns has avoided the dry nature of many coaching manuals by applying examples of players he has seen and played with, and it makes for some interesting reading.

After advising young bowlers about the pitfalls of back injuries with their various actions, he points out that there is still a place for medium pace bowlers in the game, and he rated former New Zealand bowler Gavin Larsen as the best exponent of medium pace bowling he had seen.

"Throughout his career Gavin showed that his skill was considerable, and he earned respect from players and public alike for his ability to control the ball and contain the batter.

"'The Postman' was a great player for New Zealand and he showed that you don't have to be a speedster to succeed at international level."

Not surprisingly, Cairns promotes left-arm spin bowler Daniel Vettori as a player for young players to watch.

"If he [Vettori] stays fit, I think he was challenge Sir Richard Hadlee's records. He's still young, but he certainly has the goods. All you young spinners out there should take the time to watch Dan bowl and learn things from his game.

"Sometimes I think Dan is a fast bowler caught in a spinner's body! He is very aggressive, hates to be hit and always backs himself."

Cairns also rates captain Stephen Fleming as the best of the Test captains he has played under. The others are John Wright, Martin Crowe and Ken Rutherford.

Wright, he said, was "a determined and gritty person and he expected everyone else in the team to be like that."

Crowe was "…very good at anticipating what might happen next, or even further along in a game. He would react to something almost before it occurred, which gave our team a great edge. One of Martin's strengths was that he encouraged and challenged everyone to get the best out of themselves rather than insist they play to his exceptional standards."

Rutherford, he said, "…emphasised team harmony and championed team spirit, working together towards the team goal. He wasn't necessarily the best player in the team, but I think captaincy helped his game."

But as for Fleming, the public might say he lacks emotion, but Cairns says otherwise.

"He's a very calm person with an unrattled exterior, very cool under pressure and tends to project the same image whether things are going great or not very well at all. I think this is a strength, because it means he's like a rock when things do get tough.

"And take my word for it, he still gives you a rocket if you deserve it!"

Cairns' Way to Play is an interesting and worthwhile addition to the coaching material available to young players and it provides value for money in the extra interest he has provided to round out the technical data.

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