Cricket: We can chase any target, says Cairns

Chris Cairns appeals during the first one day international Chappell-Hadlee cricket series. Picture / Chris Skelton

Veteran New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns is predicting more thrilling run chases and an improved death bowling performance in the one-day series against Sri Lanka, starting tomorrow in Queenstown.

Cairns, on the outer after being dropped this year, reckons New Zealand are heading in the right direction in terms of next season's World Cup, and that the series against Sri Lanka will highlight their recent progress.

New Zealand were beaten 2-1 by Australia in this month's Chappell-Hadlee series, but produced outstanding run-chases in the last two games, losing the second at Wellington by two runs, and winning the third after posting a world-record 332.

Cairns said the triumph at Jade Stadium proved a massive boost for the squad, leaving them feeling almost bullet-proof in terms of being able to design, engineer and execute improbable run-chases.

"We've taken a bit of flak from some quarters for wanting to chase all the time, but the fact is that we're good at it," he said yesterday.

"The efforts at Wellington and Christchurch showed that.

"We now back ourselves to hunt down any total because we know we've got people in the right places to play key roles, and more importantly, people who understand what those roles are.

"We reckon if we do it right, we can chase down any target posted."

The four one-dayers against Sri Lanka will be played as a continuation of the series cut short last year by the Boxing Day tsunami, leaving New Zealand in the strange position of beginning tomorrow's opening game with a one-nil lead.

The hosts are not without their problems: rookie batsmen Jamie How and Peter Fulton have been introduced, question-marks hover over the form of Hamish Marshall; Andre Adams has been ruled out through injury, and Stephen Fleming has returned to Wellington with the birth of his first child.

Add to that the continuing concern about the death bowling, and it's clear that New Zealand have plenty to occupy their time as they approach tomorrow's day game at the Queenstown Events Centre.

New Zealand gave up 118 runs off the last 10 overs of the second Chappell-Hadlee contest at Wellington, and three days later conceded 135 off the final 10 at Christchurch, a problem Cairns described as a work in progress.

"We've been addressing it, don't worry about that," he said. "We really do pore over those critical areas within the game, and we've been paying it a lot of attention.

"Hopefully, with Shane [Bond] coming back we'll get it right on Saturday. But people need to understand that with something like that, on some days it's going to turn out well, and on others it's going to be a struggle. That's just the nature of the contest."

But he refused to duck the responsibility, saying it seemed that he and others were missing their target under pressure; that the key was handling the nerves and the atmosphere so that they could execute at any given time.

"There's a whole lot of variables that come in - the size of the grounds and the quality of the opposition - but the bottom line is being able to handle the pressure of the moment, and I don't think we did that in the last two games against Australia.

"We try to bowl in the block hole, but sometimes it's just like trying to play a cover-drive and nicking it; you don't get it right.

"The plan's effectively always the same, it just comes down to overcoming the pressure and nerves of the moment. That's what separates the good players from the others; they can block all the exterior pressures out and still deliver."

Cairns said he couldn't overstate the pressure put on death bowlers in a tight situation, describing it as one of the game's most visible sub-plots, where the bowler was alone and isolated, and under a very public type of scrutiny.

"It's extremely visible and if you don't get it right you find yourself feeling even more under the hammer, and with the ball still in your hand. It's a pretty fickle business; if you could succeed two out of every three times as a death bowler, I think you'd be rapt."