New Zealand in Zimbabwe

Cairns slams Zimbabwe performance

Cricinfo staff

August 19, 2005

Chris Cairns was scathing in his criticism of Zimbabwe's performance in the Test series © Getty Images

Chris Cairns, the New Zealand allrounder, has severely criticised Zimbabwe's pathetic performance after they lost the Test series to New Zealand. Zimbabwe were whitewashed 2-0 in less than a total of five days.

"There's no point in trying to up-play the Zimbabwean effort. I thought they were dreadful, to be honest," Cairns told Radio Sport. "I thought their application was non-existent and I'm not quite sure what sort of state they're in." Zimbabwe has replaced Phil Simmons, the former West Indian allrounder, with Kevin Curran, the former Zimbabwe player, as the national coach after the loss.

However, Cairns believed that Zimbabwe would not be stripped off Test status no matter how dismal their performances were. "The political side of things will mean that they'll retain their test status, I believe. It's difficult to argue against that because you want the game to live in all corners of the world," said Cairns quoted in a report on stuff.co.nz. "But when you're getting performances like this, it sort of devalues it a little bit."

Cairns, who has retired from Test cricket, will join New Zealand for the one-day series beginning on August 24. Andre Adams, Craig McMillan and Jeetan Patel, an uncapped offspinner, will also join the one-day squad.

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