Cricket: Milestone edges closer for Cairns

Chris Cairns needs just 80 runs as he seeks a significant double in one-day cricket.

The veteran allrounder completed one major milestone when he became the second New Zealander to claim 200 one-day international (ODI) scalps as the Black Caps beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the third match here yesterday to claim an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

If he reaches 5000 runs, he will become just the third player in the game to complete the double after Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and South Africa's Jacques Kallis.

Cairns edged his way closer after his 10 at Jade Stadium as he and long-time teammate Nathan Astle, who steered the hosts to victory with an unbeaten 90, passed Sri Lanka's 255 for seven with two overs remaining.

The five match series heads to Wellington for Friday's day-nighter before the finale in Napier on Sunday.

Both games are deadrubbers following the Black Caps seven wicket triumph in Queenstown on Saturday and their sole victory before the Boxing Day tsunami aborted the 2004 tour, but they give Cairns an ideal opportunity to knock the target off before the teams' month-long hiatus ahead of the West Indies' New Zealand tour starting in late February.

"I've never been one for setting milestones as such. I've been somebody who enjoys them when they come along rather than seeking them," Cairns said yesterday.

"It's often when you sit down and reflect that you feel pretty chuffed with what you've down, so it's nice to reach it. To get a further 80 odd runs to tie it in would be nice, but that's a by-product of what I do.

"We don't have many guys that have got 300 hundred odd wickets in our game, so 200 is a pretty good haul."

He now trails New Zealand's leading ODI wicket-taker Chris Harris by three and quipped "another 10 games and I should be right" when asked about overhauling Harris' total.

Cairns' appreciates his bowling has not been the best with the most expensive figures in the series to-date, but even with his experience of 213 matches, confidence was still an issue when searching for form and rhythm.

"Even if you've been around the game for a long time you still need the confidence. Jacob (Oram) and I have a really important role when Kyle (Mills) and Shane (Bond) have been bowling particularly well and it's important that we back them up, but we haven't quite nailed it yet."

- NZPA