Cricket: Cairns leaves the stage with dramatic exit line

Besides his man-of-the-match efforts, Chris Cairns also showed his scriptwriting talents as he led Canterbury to the State Shield one-day cricket trophy yesterday.

With the stage set for his finale in Canterbury colours, Cairns responded in glorious fashion as they beat Central Districts by five wickets in Christchurch.

In typical bludgeoning fashion, Cairns hit the winning runs with a six over long-on in the 36th over as Canterbury cantered past Central's 212 for eight.

Cairns, who will retire from international cricket after Thursday's Twenty20 match between the Black Caps and West Indies, finished 41 not out from 33 balls after earlier taking four for 53 with the ball.

He and Shanan Stewart, 36 not out, quelled some earlier jitters in Canterbury's run chase with some power hitting at the QEII Village Green.

On accepting the trophy Chris Harris, the Canterbury captain, was quick to praise Cairns.

"This morning as a team we decided it would be nice to dedicate this to Cairnsy, who's had a phenomenal career, and not only with Canterbury but with New Zealand also.

"The way he went out today, [it shows] how sorely missed he'll be. It was a fantastic performance, four for 53, and then the way he finished with the bat. He always likes to hit winning runs with a six, and he did it again. Thanks for the memories."

As for the team's performance, Harris said they produced the consistency required in the closing stages to see them take the spoils.

At 137 for five, Canterbury looked shaky until Cairns strode to the crease, settled himself in, and then unleashed five boundaries and two sixes to steer the hosts home for their first domestic title for five seasons.

Last week they also captured the inaugural Twenty20 trophy, but next season Canterbury, and New Zealand Cricket, will face life without Cairns, who again showed he can produce the big performances when needed.

Canterbury were coasting with Michael Papps and Nathan Astle making short work of the chase as they reached 78 for one before Astle fell for 39 and Papps minutes later for 28. Just when Canterbury had some promising partnerships in motion, excellent Central fielding severed the momentum with two sharp catches.

Cairns followed on from an impressive bowling display where he dismissed the Central openers early.

But his crowning moment did not feature a wicket; instead a short pitched delivery smashed Jarrod Englefield's helmet grille, which visibly rocked the right-hander after he attempted to pull a short delivery.

A shaken Englefield retired hurt on 42 and later received stitches for a cut behind his ear as a memento from Cairns' last provincial match.

Importantly for Canterbury it severed a late burst from Central.

From 180 for four with seven overs remaining, they looked on target for a competitive total until Englefield was removed.

Cairns continued the carnage when he bowled Bevan Griggs for 42 shortly afterwards, and Central limped through their 50 overs. Central would have been kicking themselves for not posting a score in excess of 250.

After Cairns combined with his fielders to remove both openers with 41 runs on the board, Ross Taylor and Mathew Sinclair displayed some lusty hitting, which restarted the innings.

Taylor was typically belligerent, punishing anything short as he raced to his half-century off 40 balls with seven boundaries and two well-struck sixes.

But when trying to dispatch Nathan Astle to the boundary again, he caught a bottom edge that rocked his stumps.

Sinclair continued the momentum, at one stage taking 18 runs off Chris Harris in the 21st over, but he fell for 37 when Englefield called him through for a quick single and was run out well short.

Besides Cairns' haul, New Zealand paceman Shane Bond proved frugal with one for 32 from his 10 overs.

Central Districts
J. How c Harris b Cairns 5
G. Barnett c Papps b Cairns 8
R. Taylor b Astle 50
M. Sinclair run out 37
J. Englefield retired hurt 42
B. Griggs b Cairns 42
B. Diamanti c Astle b McMillan 1
E. Thompson c Stewart b Bond 5
M. Mason not out 12
G. Hegglun b Cairns 1
L. Hamilton not out 2
Extras (1b, 1lb, 1nb, 4w) 7
Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 212
Fall: 1/10, 2/41, 3/83, 4/111, 5/180, 6/181, 7/196, 8/196, 9/200
Bowling: S. Bond 10-3-32-1 (2w), S. Cunis 1.3-1-0-0, C. McMillan 2.3-0-8-1, C. Cairns 10-0-53-4 (1nb), N. Astle 10-0-34-1 (1w), C. Harris 10-0-56-0, P. Wiseman 6-0-27-0 (1w)

Canterbury
B. McCullum c Griggs b Hamilton 7
M. Papps c Taylor b Mason 28
N. Astle c Griggs b Diamanti 39
C. McMillan c How b Diamanti 14
P. Fulton c Hegglun b Taylor 26
S. Stewart not out 36
C. Cairns not out 41
Extras (10lb, 1nb, 12w) 23
Total (for 5 wkts, 35.2 overs) 214
Fall: 1/12, 2/78, 3/80, 4/108, 5/137
Bowling: M. Mason 8.2-0-50-1 (3w), L. Hamilton 8-1-58-1, E. Thompson 6-0-43-0 (1nb, 2w), B. Diamanti 7-0-22-2 (1w), G. Hegglun 3-0-18-0, R. Taylor 3-0-13-1 (1w)

Result: Canterbury won by 5 wickets.

- NZPA