From the vault: Wasim Akram nearly kills a Kiwi

The left-arm soon to become a legend of swing bowling nearly uprooted Lance Cairns' crane in his debut Test series

Pakistan were 1-0 down against New Zealand in the three-match series when they took the Kiwis on in the third Test match in Dunedin during their 1984-1985 tour to the country.

Pakistan were sent in to bat first by New Zealand and they scored 274 runs courtesy Qasim Umar's 96 and Javed Miandad's 79.

New Zealand were bundled out for 220 after Wasim Akram took a fifer with seven maidens and just 56 runs off 26 overs. He had just arrived at the scene with his debut in the second Test in the same series.

Pakistan came in to bat in the second innings confident of building up the lead but an all-round performance from the Kiwi bowlers restricted them to 223, setting a target of 278 runs for New Zealand to win.

New Zealand were 23-4 at one point and Pakistan seemed all but ready to walk over the hosts but a 157-run partnership between Martin Crowe (84) and unbeaten till the end Jeremy Coney (111) led the bases of a terrific comeback.

New Zealand eventually won the match to bag the series 2-0.

During the second innings an important event shook the cricket world after Lance Cairns, father of the famous New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns, was struck on the head by a Wasim bouncer.

Screen grab from the video.

The all-rounder was retired hurt and left the field. He reportedly suffered a hairline fracture in his head and complained about having dizzy spell for a few months after the incident. But his courage was applauded when he was seen padded up to enter the field again and try to win the match for the Kiwis, which they eventually did win.