Chris Rattue: Sixes of the best in a losers lineup

There have been bold blows struck in the name of Chris Cairns this week, after he announced his impending retirement from international cricket.

I'll add a few more, but less some.

First, let's get it clear: I'll miss Cairns as much as anybody. A genius at times with the bat. A legend of New Zealand sport, no less.

The remarkable thing about Cairns was that he could hit the ball so hard and so far with, apparently, so little effort.

His straight-bat strikes, in particular, often involved a sweet swing that might have had origins in the lazy summer swish of a fishing rod.

A tall, powerful man with a great eye and even greater timing, Cairns was unique.

When you saw other players hurl the blade with what appeared to be greater intent, only to have the ball bobble to a fielder, it made you realise just how special Cairns' ability with the willow was.

There are plenty of strong people out there, but very few with what it takes to hit a cricket ball - coming at them in a fearsome and bewitching variety of spins and speeds - like that.

Television once strung together his record-breaking sequence of test sixes, and at the end, you were left dazed by the onslaught and dizzy in admiration.

That he passed a mark set by the most brutal batsman in test history, the all-time great Viv Richards, says it all.

Cairns was so good, he could turn the Black Caps into lovable losers instead of just losers. And that takes some doing.

Let's face it. The Black Caps have become a bunch of desperate losers, with more theories about their sport than Wayne Smith has on a rugby backline.

Endless reasoning emanates from the dressing room (topped up by endless theories that come waffling out of the TV and radio commentary boxes).

And you know what? None of them actually works, in terms of sustained international success. Not on the evidence, anyway.

There's a whole industry of New Zealand cricket theories out there, enough to start a university degree in the muck.

At least at his best, Cairns cut through all that nonsense with the bat the way Shane Bond - when he isn't on his sick bed - does with the ball.

A ripping Bond bouncer or a Cairns blow into the stand have been our best icons of cricket hope for yonks. When Cairns smashed a world-class bowler such as Shane Warne into oblivion, you could breathe easy for once.

It was like he was doing it for us, taking revenge on those endless cricketing brainwaves that inevitably leave the Black Caps washed up on the beach yet again.

Cairns made life interesting. Just now and then, he made you believe that New Zealand didn't just produce cricketers who can only cling by the fingertips to a place in what is a very small international game.

We actually had someone who was better than the rest. Now fancy that.

Every six that he struck into the grandstand was another jolt to the memory bank, smacking the hard drive round to the point that you could forget what was often another dud Black Caps scorebook.

When he hit it out of the ground, it literally took your focus off what was going on in the middle.

Sadly, Cairns' favourite memories upon announcing his retirement said it all about New Zealand cricket.

Hey, a drawn series against Australia. Terrific. I'm sure retiring Australian cricketers all mention this momentous draw in their farewell speeches.

Winning the Champions Trophy. Hey, terrific. What is that Champions Trophy anyway. Here's an exercise: wander down to your local supermarket and poll the public on the Champions Trophy. The first question could be: Have you ever heard of the Champions Trophy?CAIRNS was able to call up the initial test victory over England in 1999, and there he at least had a small point. It led to a fightback series win against an England team with a bowling attack to rank with their worst.

Let's face it, the Cairns greatest hits list is a sad commentary on New Zealand cricket, given that he first played for the national team in 1989. His sporadic exploits as a batsman and medium quick have sometimes only served to be the Black Caps' spin-doctor.

Now to the nitty gritty. Cairns never led the troops out of the trenches to glory. Not the way Sir Richard Hadlee did, not the way Ricky Ponting does, not the way Allan Border saved Australia, not the way Steve Waugh fought to the bitter end, not the way Freddie Flintoff won the Ashes.

Cairns never found enough in either his batting or bowling to consistently lead from the front; to dictate terms when it counted.

Great now and then, he never made New Zealand great. Not even close. And that's the aim of the game.

He's going to make his final farewell in Twenty20, a joke that is to cricket what mini-putt is to golf. Like a lot of things about New Zealand cricket, it's not the way to go.