Former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns, who played across formats in international cricket and also led the team, has been on full life support in a Canberra hospital. He has suffered a major heart problem in the city last week. New Zealand media has reported the news on August 10 as well.
Chris Cairns has been one of the key players of New Zealand cricket in their history. His contribution to the 50-over format has been vividly remembered. He finished his Test career with a batting average of 33.53 whereas he has a bowling average of 29.40 in the longer format as well. He is widely known as one of the greatest all-rounders of the game as well.
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He was also named as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. And, after his cricketing career, he became a commentator with Sky Sports New Zealand also. He had played 62 Tests, 215 ODIs and 2 T20Is for New Zealand where he has scored 3320 runs in Test cricket, 4950 runs in ODIs as well. Chris Cairns has also scored 22 fifties and 5 centuries with the best score of 158 as well in Tests.
In ODIs, he amassed 4950 runs which also included 26 half-centuries and 4 centuries. He also had a good strike rate of 84.37 in the 50-over format. However, he will soon be shifted to a specialist hospital in Sydney. As per Newshub, the veteran has suffered an aortic dissection in his heart in Canberra last week. Notably, he had gone through a lot of surgeries after suffering a heart problem but had not responded to any treatment yet.
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On the other hand, New Zealand’s players’ union didn’t give an immediate comment on the matter. NZC spokesperson has stated that the board was respecting the right to privacy of Chris Cairns and refused to comment on this matter as well.
However, he became the first cricketer to score a century in an ICC Champions Trophy final for a winning cause. Chris Cairns also became the third player to hit a hundred in a Champions Trophy final. Philo Wallace and Sourav Ganguly were the first and second players to smash a century in the ICC Champions Trophy final as well.