Former New Zealand captain Chris Cairns lied under oath that he never fixed cricket matches and once threatened a team-mate with a bat for scoring too many runs, a perjury trial has heard.
Cairns was accused by the chairman of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi, in January 2010 of match fixing while he was playing for the Chandigarh Lions in the now defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL) in 2008.
Two years later, Cairns brought a libel action against Modi and successfully sued for 1.4 million pounds ($2.9 million).
But prosecutor Sasha Wass told London's Southwark Crown Court Cairns's co-accused, Andrew Fitch-Holland, a lawyer and his "lead adviser", approached team-mate, Lou Vincent, to get him to lie during the libel action.
Wass said Vincent not only knew Cairns had fixed matches, but was involved in match fixing himself under the direct orders of Cairns.
Wass said there was evidence to prove Cairns had been involved in match fixing and had lied about it under oath.
The jury was also told Vincent was once threatened with a cricket bat by Cairns after scoring too many runs in a fixed game, telling his then wife Eleanor Riley he had "lost Chris Cairns $250,000".
The court also heard that Cairns had even attempted to recruit current New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, saying he could get between $70,000 and $180,000 per match to throw games while playing in the ICL in 2008.
Cairns first approached McCullum in a hotel when he was playing for the Calcutta Knightriders, giving him an in-depth explanation of how spread-betting worked, Wass said.
They then later met up in a cafe in Worcester, where a touring New Zealand team were playing against the county side.
"At that meeting Brendon McCullum says Cairns approached him and asked him whether he had changed his mind," Wass told the jury.
"He said no he hadn't. Mr McCullum didn't log an official report on Cairns at the time. He should have done that. He will tell you he regrets not doing that, but will explain that Chris Cairns was such a hero to him that he could not bring himself to do that straight away."
It was not until McCullum and the New Zealand team underwent anti-corruption training at the World Cup in India in 2011 that he alerted officials to what happened, Wass said, but in the three years between he did tell other people.
Cairns is charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, while Fitch-Holland is accused of perverting the course of justice. They both deny the charges.
AFP
