Christopher Lance Cairns ONZM is a former New Zealand cricketer and former ODI captain, who played for the New Zealand cricket team. One of the more colourful characters in the New Zealand side, Chris Cairns developed from something of a rebel to a more senior statesman, especially after the part he played in ending the players' strike in 2002. When fit, he was one of the finest allrounders in the world, and he became only the sixth man to achieve an allrounder's double of 200 wickets and 3000 runs in March 2004.

He is son of former New Zealand cricketing great Lance Cairns. He starred in both the One-day and Test New Zealand teams, as well as the Canterbury New Zealand domestic championship team. Cairns also played for Northland in the Hawke Cup. He had joined the Indian Cricket League, and was the captain of the Chandigarh Lions till its closure in 2008. He later went on to play for Nottinghamshire in the English Twenty20 cup competition. Chris Cairns was included in the New Zealand national under-19 cricket team for the 1988 Youth Cricket World Cup, which was also eventually the inaugural edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He was later selected to the senior national team. He made his test debut against Australia on 24 November 1989.

Cairns was a destructive batsman who could hit sixes straight down the ground and in his earlier days was an intelligent fast-medium bowler. Since then, persistent injuries have forced him to drop his pace and rely more on his hard-to-read slower ball. With the bat, Cairns has been the author of some of New Zealand cricket's most memorable innings, including his unbeaten 102 to win the final of the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy for New Zealand against India in Kenya, and his 158 from just 172 balls in a Test against South Africa in 2004.

He was part of the triumphant side who became just the second New Zealand test team to win a series in England, and the first to win at Lord’s. Cairns, was talismanic in New Zealand’s 2-1 series win over Endland, capturing 19 wickets at 21.26, including 6/77 in the second test win at Lord’s. He contributed some vital runs, scoring 180 runs over the series and a crunch 80 at The Oval in the final match, which New Zealand won by 83 runs.

Cairns knocked Shane Warne out of Australia's bowling attack during a 2000 test in Wellington when he launched several sixes out of the Basin Reserve and onto the adjacent street. Cairns formerly held the world record for most sixes in Tests (87, since surpassed by Adam Gilchrist), and for a time held the New Zealand record for fastest century in ODIs (75 balls, currently owned by Corey Anderson with 36 balls)

Cairns was also the part of the victorious New Zealand campaign during the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy where they beat India in the final to lift their first title in major ICC global event. He played his part in the final and helped the Kiwis side, by scoring a match winning knock of 102* and was awarded the player of the final. Finally New Zealand went onto win the final and registered the highest ever chase in an ICC Champions Trophy final (265). He also went onto become the first player to score a century in an ICC Champions Trophy final (was previously called as ICC Knockout Trophy) in a winning cause. He became only the third player to score a century in a Champions Trophy final after Philo Wallace and Sourav Ganguly.

In an ODI against India in 1999, he went onto become the second ever player in ODI history after Gordon Greenidge to score a century in his 100th ODI and became the first batsman to score a century in his 100th ODI in a winning cause. He is currently the only New Zealand player to achieve that milestone. Cairns' career-best bowling performance in Tests was 7/27 against the West Indies in 1999, and he is New Zealand's sixth highest wicket taker in Tests, after Richard Hadlee, Daniel Vettori, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, and Chris Martin. He is also one of only eight players to have reached the all-rounder's double of 200 wickets and 3000 runs. Out of these seven players, Cairns reached the double 3rd fastest (58 Test) behind Ian Botham and Kapil Dev (50 tests). In ODIs, Cairns came close to another double of 200 wickets and 5000 runs. Cairns finished his ODI career on 4950 runs, just 50 short. Cairns Test batting average at number seven (44.02) is the 5th best average for that position of all time.

The New Zealand Herald journalist, Richard Boock said about Cairns: "It's not a scientific measure of course, but if Cairns' body had held together long enough for him to have played 100 Tests, his figures extrapolate out to something like 5334 runs and 351 wickets – very similar to those of Botham." He went on to say "He was, and should be remembered as, one of the game's best all-rounders." During the Lord's Test against England, he bowled England wicket-keeper Chris Read for zero. Read was ducking to the ball, what he thought was a beamer from Chris Cairns but was a well-disguised slower ball.

Cairns also played in the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal ODI, at the MCG. Cairns played for the ICC World XI and scored 69 off 47 balls before being stumped by Kumar Sangakkara off the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan. During his innings, Cairns put a 91 run partnership on with his captain, Ricky Ponting. With the ball, Cairns picked up 1/37 off 6 overs. Injuries plagued Cairns throughout his career. There remains some debate over his statistics and how they reflected his ability. In Cairns career he played 62 Test and missed a further 55 due to injury. Sidharth Monga writing in 2009 that Cairns' career returns "were a poor justification of his prodigious talent

Cairns retired from the New Zealand Test team in 2004. In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, Cairns was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to cricket. On 22 January 2006, Cairns announced his retirement from ODIs in a press conference. A Twenty20 match against the West Indies on 16 February 2006 was his last game representing New Zealand. He was also part of the ICC World XI that played in the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal matches.

The New Zealand Herald compared his retirement to those of Michael Jordan and Björn Borg on 15 February 2006. In Cairns final game, he bowled four overs for 24 and no wicket and scored a nine-ball duck, before being bowled by Chris Gayle. He also missed the stumps in both attempts during the bowl off. ESPNcricinfo describe his final international as "an unfitting farewell”. He was named as the captain of the World XI for the 2009 ICL World Series Twenty 20 tournament which was set to be held in Hyderabad. However, the proposed tournament was cancelled due to payment disputes.

In December 2013, Cairns was the subject of allegations in an ICC investigation into match-fixing. He is alleged to have attempted to manipulate games in India when he was captain of the Chandigarh Lions in the short lived Indian Cricket League. Cairns has rejected these claims. Former New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent, an admitted match fixer, has said that Cairns had approached him about fixing matches. Cairns insists that he has never fixed a match, saying Vincent wanted to "mitigate his sins by blaming others.” Cairns successfully sued former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi for libel. Police announced that they would charge Cairns with perjury stemming from the Modi libel trial. He was acquitted of charges of perjury and perverting the course of justice on 30 November 2015.

Canberra-based Cairns suffered a life-threatening heart attack in August 2021 that left him on life support in a Sydney hospital. He then had a spinal stroke following emergency heart surgery. Cairns spent 141 days in Canberra Hospital recovering and required four open-heart surgeries. Then five months later, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. The stroke left Cairns paralysed from the waist down and he has spent many agonising months learning how to walk again. The work and determination has evidently paid off, as Cairns was filmed walking into a bar with the assistance of crutches and setting up at a leaner.