Like father, like son - The saga of Lance and Chris Cairns

PART THREE: “Cherry” Pickings and the Injuries

Both men were highly intelligent bowlers, despite their vastly contrasting styles – Lance was more front-on, while his son favoured a side-on action. Their wicket-taking abilities, however, would thrust them in the limelight more often than not. While the senior devastated opposing batsmen with his devilish in-swingers (born of his unusual high-arm action) and reasonable pace, the younger lad preferred to master the art of swing and seam, perfecting his stock delivery: a hard-to-read slower ball. In his initial days, Chris was a relatively quicker bowler, with all the exuberance of youth.

Lance’s mastery of his art saw him demolish the England line-up in the 1983-84 home Test series, when he mowed down the first five batsmen with only 115 on the board. He finished with 7 wickets in that innings, although his more notable contribution came with the bat. Incidentally, it was during this series that the Kiwi crowds got their first glimpse of his son, who was 14 at the time. Chris himself would go on to devastate the English 16 years later, much like his father.

BLC’s Action Was Unusual In His Time

The Jovial Chris Was a Classical Seam Bowler

Then something happened. Something that, again, became inextricably woven in the web of their similar sojourns. Sportsmen have long fallen prey to this menace, and it has more often than not claimed them at the most inopportune times. It bears an innocuous yet deadly moniker – injury.

Neither of New Zealand’s best all-rounders (after Hadlee) were immune to this. BLC was nearly killed when a brute of a delivery from 19-year-old Wasim Akram struck him hard on the back of the head. He had no helmet on, and was hospitalized with a suspected hairline fracture of the skull – the clip of this incident still gives me goosebumps. The beginning of the end of his playing days was upon him.

CLC was particularly affected in the back and the knees, often necessitating a plethora of surgeries. His pace dropped down, forcing him to rely on his slower delivery for wickets. Yet, the writing on the wall was becoming alarmingly clear with each new assault on his fragile body.

Matters would come to a head soon for both. With Injury came the final ignominy.

PART FOUR: No Fairytale End – The worst anti-climax ever

The wisdom of cricket administrators is seldom questioned when the national team does well on the big stage. But once form slumps, injuries and a spate of defeats begin to occur for a prolonged spell, and the axe begins to fall down hard on those affected by such malaise. In some cases, the reasons are as ludicrous as the possibility of pigs sprouting wings and flying away.

At 36, the immensely popular and adored Picton all-rounder was forced into premature retirement just like his skipper Geoff Howarth. 1985 had to be the worst year for Kiwi cricket, because Bernard was denied the option of choosing his own time to walk into the sunset. Chris, on the other hand, lasted just a year longer after yet another comeback from injury.

And in the worst possible anti-climax to their glittering careers, neither man scored any runs, nor did they take any wickets in their final games. Bereft of all sheen, the two cricketers slowly faded away from the spotlight. Perhaps the last bit of similarity was not the kind of ending they had in mind.

One of my favourite novels has the quote: ”Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?”

In the Cairns saga, they certainly chose the path, and yet, it forsook them in the heydays of their powers.

Chris’s life has been turbulent of late, with allegations of match-fixing and two broken marriages; Lance has been living in the world of the hearing impaired for nearly 50 years. It is certainly not the kind of similarity either would want, but one they share nonetheless.

Thank you, father and son, for the cricketing memories you have left us with.