Lance Cairns - New Zealand Cricket Great

Bernard Lance Cairns was born on 10/10/49 in Picton, New Zealan and is the former all-rounder great who played for both the New Zealand Test cricket team and One day cricket team between 1974 and 1985. He also is the father of another great New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns.

He was also known for the unusual bat he wielded throughout much of his outstanding career. His bat was known as "Excalibur", the shoulders of the bat were planed down to form a conical rather than rectangular shape and resemble a club. It was heavy and when he connected with the ball, the ball was never seen again as it was hit out of the ground.

Cairns was also a swing bowler with a very unorthodox 'front on' action. He took 130 Test Match wickets and a further 89 ODI wickets. He even took ten wickets in New Zealand's first ever win on English soil, at Headingley in 1983.

Lance Cairns is one of the great figures of New zealand cricket, he is famous for his innings in Australia where he hit 6 sixes in 10 balls - see here Lance Cairns 6 sixes Beige Brigade

Do you remember when Lance Cairns hit 6 sixes in 10 balls?

Enjoy...

Part 1



Part 2



I've been watching the latest Chappell/Hadlee series between New Zealand and Australia and I remembered that great innings in the early 80's by Lance Carins. I went looking for the video of it and found it on youtube.

It was a classic era for cricket, one day cricket back then was regarded then as the 20/20 version is today. The birth of those classic one day uniforms. The beige and brown of New Zealand, the green and gold of Australia. Who'll ever forget the underarm?



Anyway, back to the story at hand...

After a rain affected 1st Final in Sydney, NZ went to Melbourne down one-nil in a best of three final series. Hadlee was injured and did not play the finals and NZ really missed him.

Now comes the story of Lance Carins, NZ had collapsed to be 44-6, chasing Australia's huge score of 302-8. Dennis Lillee had just waved off New Zealand's last recognised batsman and awaited the arrival and "easy scalp" of Cairns.

Lillee's first ball was an all out bouncer that hit Cairns square on the helmet, you can clealy hear the impact on the video. Cairns just laughed and ran through for a leg bye. When his turn came to face, his response was to hit 2 sixes in 3 balls off Ken MacLeay, before hitting 2 consecutive sixes off Rodney Hogg the following over, and in the next over, doing the same to Lillee. The crowd went wild, everyone in NZ watching on TV couldn't believe what they were seeing and have never forgotten it! The highlight was undoubtedly The one-handed shot off Lillee, which soared over the fine leg fence for 6. Cairns' dismissal was an anti-climax; out for 52, offering a simple catch to Steve Smith at cover off the bowling of Geoff Lawson.

New Zealand of course lost the match by 149 runs and the Finals series 2-0, but Lance Cairns became a New Zealand icon and legend for life.

City Fitness Gym New Plymouth New Zealand

I would like to share my experience with being a member of the City Fitness Gym and Health Center in New Plymouth, NZ - IT SUCKS! Firstly when I signed up to join this gym, I was told that I wouldn't be disappointed with the equipment and that there would be enough weight for everyone. The promotional material said no waiting times for equipment and that the equipment was brand new.

What I found was that a lot of the equipment was not new and was old and even some machines had paint brush strokes still showing from where they had been touched up! The weight area was small and cramped and there was a lot of waiting to use stuff. There wasn't enough weights and some of the machines were so old that they should have been in a museum.

When signing up, the staff are really friendly and accommodating and will tell you anything to get you to sign up. Once you are signed up, it all changes. No help unless you pay extra for personal trainers. I'm fortunate that i don't need help but every now and then it would be good to get a "spot" but I either wouldn't trust anyone there to help or people working there are too busy talking amongst themselves at the counter to help. I see so many people there doing things wrong but no one there seems to give a shit unless you pay them extra dollars for help. Most of the trainers there have no idea what they're doing and the worse one of all, a guy named Simon, steals peoples equipment from them so that his clients can have it to use. People go for a drink and bang! this dickhead called Simon takes their bench, weights or whatever else he needs. What a asshole!

The guy that owns it is called Dominic and he's a real jerk! He'll reprimand his staff in front of members and he thinks he's the greatest thing out in the fitness industry.

anyway I recommend anyone contemplating joining this gym to consider very carefully their options and to not sign on for anything longer than a year.