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His pedigree is impeccable. Lance Cairns's son, the celebrated six-hitter of New Zealand cricket, Christopher Cairns bids fair to surpass his father not just in big hitting, but in fact in all aspects of the game.

His progress would perhaps have been even more dramatic had it not been for a series of physical handicaps, which have afflicted him since he made his debut in 1989.

Despite it all, however, Cairns junior bids fair to become the best Kiwi all-rounder since Sir Richard Hadlee. In fact, like Hadlee before him, Cairns won his spurs playing as the foreign pro for Nottinghamshire in the English county circuit.

Anant Gaundalkar caught up with Cairns recently, in Sharjah, during the Coca-Cola Cup triangular featuring Australia and India beside New Zealand. Excerpts from an interview:

As per Wisden, New Zealand is ranked last on the international ladder. How do you think your team should go about improving on that standing?

I don't agree with the Wisden ranking, which places us below Zimbabwe and at the very bottom of the ladder. This, frankly, is pure rubbish. We have played much better cricket, won many international matches against various countries and still, we find ourselves placed last -- and I frankly don't understand that. Placing us below Zimbabwe is not acceptable. I mean, to quote one example, we beat India here, in Sharjah -- while Zimbabwe failed to beat either Australia or India during the Pepsi series in India before this.

But yes, we are pretty low down in the hierarchy. The side is slowly but surely revolving into a composite group, the board and the team management in consultation with our coach, Steve Rixon, have come up with plans for improving our performance. Our main objective is to do well in the World Cup next summer. During the 1992 World Cup, we reached the semis and only lost to the eventual champion, Pakistan, at that stage. In England, where the conditions are ideal for our bowlers, we hope to do as well or better.

New Zealand, however, has not produced any young players of star quality in the recent past, why is that?

Do you remember how former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan always used to complain about the poor standard of domestic cricket in his own land? Well, back home, our situation is somewhat like that. The gradation, the standard of domestic tournaments has gone down of late, and this in turn has affected our ability to produce good young players -- and this failure is reflected in our lack of bench strength.

On the other hand, the game of rugby is worshipped in New Zealand, even domestic competitions are of a high standard, and this is reflected in the performance of our national side. There is a huge difference between our young cricket sides and young rugby sides in terms of the talent we are unearthing, and we need to tackle this problem at the grassroots level itself. Again, Imran did this brilliantly for Pakistan, he is a great leader...

You mentioned the World Cup earlier -- what is your rating of the various teams' chances?

Frankly, it is extremely difficult to predict the winners in a one-day tournament -- more so when the tournament involves 30, 35 games. The game itself is so unpredictable, a team that looks good to win everything can be so easily upset. I mean, remember what your Indians did to the all-conquering West Indies side in 1983? Again, look at a more recent example, during the Pepsi Cup, India looked unbeatable and yet lost the final. Here in Sharjah, Australia looked the better team, yet India won the game that mattered. It all underlines my point -- one day cricket is totally unpredictable, the form book can, and often does, go for a six.

Judging from recent performances, I would say holders Sri Lanka, India, Australia and South Africa would rank as front-runners, and I would put our own side as the underdogs. I think in 1999, we will be in the same position that India was in before the 1983 Cup, Australia before the 1987 Cup, or even Pakistan in 1992.

You just mentioned Imran Khan's contribution to Pakistan cricket... if you were to name one player who had a similar impact on cricket in your country, who would it be and why?

Undoubtedly, Sir Richard Hadlee. He gave a new dimension to cricket in New Zealand. His bowling was a huge plus for the side, he had the uncanny knack of picking up wickets whenever they were most needed. To my mind, he is the greatest bowler of all time. And he also produced match winning knocks with the bat -- he was easily our best ever all rounder, one of the best ever the world has seen. A complete player, a common people's champion, always involved in the game in one department or the other. A player of that class becomes a role model, inspires the younger ones, all of us who were then learning the game looked to him for a model.

With Hadlee in mind, what are your views on star players becoming captains?

Even in the contemporary cricket world, you have two good examples -- Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. They are the best at what they do, they both are the kind of players who can, even when the rest of the side is having an off day, go out there and win a match all on their own. There are very, very few players today who can do that, and Tendulkar and Warne are the leaders. They are a delight, not just for the spectators but also for their captains. However, they should have the freedom to concentrate on their game, on doing what they do best -- and the one thing I believe neither of them need, or should be forced to shoulder, is the burden of captaincy.

There is some talk, these days, of cricket overdose, of seasons overlapping one another. Your views?

Yes, indeed, cricket these days appears to have no seasons, no boundaries, every given day someone is playing someone else someplace. This I guess is mainly because one day cricket is so popular, for one thing -- you never have to worry about filling a stadium. Also, one day matches are very big money-spinners, sponsors queue up to pay big money to organisers, so I guess this was bound to happen.

From a player's point of view, the overdose of cricket is definitely taxing, and the main impact is being felt by bowlers. I mean, India's Srinath and Prasad, Australia's Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, South Africa's Allan Donald, some of the promising young bowlers from Pakistan... the list of those who have become victims of the non-stop grind just goes on and on.

I think the South African board's decision to protect Donald, to have him play only international cricket, that too only crucial games, is a good one. I think the Indian board should definitely move in this direction, especially to protect Srinath. He is a great fast bowler -- properly conserved, he will be spearheading your attack for a few years more.