Cricket: Cairns' test swansong not what he expected

NOTTINGHAM - Chris Cairns dreamed of a series-winning farewell at his former cricketing home, but he did not count on a party pooper by the name of Harmison.

A reflective Cairns talked yesterday at his beloved Trent Bridge pavilion to mark his 62nd and final test.

He still looked a touch deflated at returning to Nottingham with New Zealand 2-0 down in the test series and their dreams of a second consecutive series win in England in tatters.

And he was in no doubt as to England's edge - a towering fast bowler from Durham who has snared 15 wickets from the first two tests.

"Purely Steve Harmison. Overall the teams are pretty similar, but Harmison has spearheaded their attack," Cairns said.

"He definitely has been the difference and, unfortunately, we haven't had someone to do the same thing.

"To say we're down is an understatement. There are a lot of disappointed guys, but we have to pick ourselves up and play like we know we can."

Cairns said he never imagined he would return to Trent Bridge, where he first played as a teenager in 1988, trailing by two matches in the series.

Still, he would accept nothing less than a win as his dream farewell to salvage something from the series - even if he scores a pair and fails to take a wicket. "A victory is all I want. For me it's always been about winning," he said. "I find individual performance is shallow if it doesn't lead to a victory."

Cairns said he had planned to retire after the South Africa series in March, having achieved his cricketing Everest of becoming a leading member of the elite allrounder's club.

Sitting alongside Sir Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev and his fellow New Zealand and Notts servant Sir Richard Hadlee in the 3000-run, 200-wicket club was a satisfying achievement in a 15-year career in which he has played 61 tests, but missed a staggering 57 through injury.

But the England itinerary lured him back and seemed tailormade for a test farewell.

Cairns insisted he would not be persuaded back to test cricket. While he still wants to play one-day cricket as long as the body and mind remain willing, possibly to the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, he realised last week that test cricket was not for him any more.

"I was watching Harmison and Matthew Hoggard on that fourth evening at Headingley when they really ran in and won the game for England. That's when it dawned on me that it was time to call it a day."

- NZPA