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Adams vs Cairns

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
AdamsWinner
83.6

Adams wins: Longevity, Statistics

Cairns
83.5

Cairns wins: Dominance, Peak

Candidates
Locked to Cricket

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Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇬🇧 Chris Adams
83.6

Adams leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. Captained Sussex to their first County Championship in 2003.

1. Chris Adams
83.6
2. Chris Cairns
83.5

Category breakdown

Season form · Centuries per year

Career timeline · Centuries per year

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through year 5 · Centuries per year
1. 🇬🇧 Chris Adams5 years played · career day 1,826262 runs
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇳🇿 Chris Cairns5 years played · career day 1,825235 runs
-10.3% vs Adams at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇬🇧 Adams004594202538
🇳🇿 Cairns003576235531

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 years are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricAdamsRetiredCairnsRetired
First-class runs19,981
First-class centuries47
County championships as captain3
Tests played562
Seasons played21
Test wickets218
Test runs3,320
Test centuries5
ODI wickets201
Dominance w25%7680
Peak w20%8890
Longevity w20%8882
Honours w20%7878
Statistics w15%9290

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Adams83.6
Cairns83.5
The people
Adams
Cairns

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Make your case for Adams vs Cairns. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.

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