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.