Wisden overview
Some sons of famous fathers wither in the paternal shade. Not Chris Cairns. He was carefully nurtured in the substantial shadow of his father Lance, who in his homespun way had bowled brisk inswingers and destroyed bowlers witha lamp-post disguised as a bat. In fact Cairns senior made sure that his son was coached along classical lines as a bowler of genuine speed, and a batsman of imposing strength and style. Sadly, Chris Cairns' over-eager bowling caused a back injury in his first Test, and he has never been so free and fast since. However, he could still bowl sharply and his batting gained in control. Cairns' aggressive personality was a problem in the mid-1990s when he contested the control of the New Zealand coach Glenn Turner - a move which had Turner sacked and Cairns re-installed by the marketing men as the show-piece and crowd-puller of the New Zealand game. Occasionally, Cairns has lived up to that billing, and his longer innings have been studded with strokes perhaps more explosive than his father's: the effortless lift over cover, and the powerful pull. But he has suffered a series of knee injuries which have allowed him brief one-day appearances, but make him a risk in five-day matches. Don Cameron

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