Cricket: Cairns injury doesn't hamstring Black Caps

Chris Cairns

HARARE - There was a time when an injury to Chris Cairns would have had the rest of the New Zealand team donning black armbands.

Almost. But there was no doubting the immensity of the towering allrounder's value to the side.

Contrast that scenario with the lack of alarm that has greeted the hamstring strain that has ruled Cairns out for much of the triangular ODI series - including tonight's final against India.

Not because he is no longer a valued Black Cap. Far from it.

But the fact is New Zealand have matured into a team who can draw on the talent, skills and experience of several world-class players.

Cairns crisis? What crisis?

"There have been some outstanding individual efforts on this tour, but collectively it's been great," Cairns said.

"It's an excellent bunch of guys, and there's some real development being shown in New Zealand cricket.

"The players we have on show now are of a very high quality.

"We're getting guys who have been around the game for quite some time who are now into their middle and late 20s.

"They know their games pretty well, they have good confidence, and they've learned well over the last couple of years.

"I'm sure we're going to see the fruits of that over the next few years."

Cairns did not regard New Zealand's previous match against India in the tournament, in Harare on Friday, when the Indians cruised to victory by six wickets, as an omen for the final.

"It was a bit of a sparring match, and we were without the two leading bowlers in our contingent," he said.

"Shane Bond is devastating, and Daniel Vettori is probably the best finger spinner in the game.

"We don't like to lose, at all, but when those two come back into the fray it adds a whole different dimension to our attack."

Not surprisingly, Cairns is a Bond fan.

"It's frightening to think what he could have achieved if he wasn't injured for the past two years," he said.

"But we also have to admire his tenacity and commitment to have fought back from being written off."

Cairns' injury was not in the same league as Bond's stress fractures, but he knows all too well the arduous process of reclaiming his fitness.

"It's been a tough tour for me, coming over here and missing the warm-up game for a start," he said. "That put me behind the eight-ball.

"It's been annoying, frustrating, disappointing, all of those sorts of adjectives. But we're in the final and I'm going to support the team and I look forward to what I hope will be a New Zealand victory."

Next month, it's back to this part of the world for New Zealand's one-day series in South Africa.

"I just have to make sure that I keep going," Cairns said.

"At the moment it's about getting an opportunity, and the guys are playing so well that you really have to fight for your place.

"It's a healthy state for New Zealand cricket to be in."

Healthier, by any measure, than Cairns' troublesome hammy.

- NZPA