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Cairns to undergo knee surgery, out for 6 months
Jan 24, 2001, 11:45 Hrs (IST)

Christchurch: All-rounder Chris Cairns has given up his battle to be fit for any New Zealand matches this summer and decided to undergo knee surgery, which will keep him out of international cricket for six months.

Cairns, ruled out of New Zealand's recent tour of South Africa because of his troublesome right knee, made a comeback for the first One-day International against Zimbabwe but could bowl only three overs.

Cairns, who scored a century against India, which led New Zealand to victory in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Knock Out tournament in Kenya, saw a specialist in Christchurch this week.

He first suffered problems in Zimbabwe last September and knew surgery was an option.

''Rather than wait any longer I decided to accept the expert advice to get what they call patella decompression done,'' Cairns said.

He said he had had a similar operation on his left knee in 1994 and expected the same success on his right knee.

Cairns expects to be fit for New Zealand's September tour of Pakistan.

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