Cairns ordered me to fix matches – Vincent

LOU Vincent, the former New Zealand batsman, has claimed he was acting under “direct orders” from Chris Cairns, his captain at Chandigarh Lions, when he agreed to fix matches during the now-defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL) in 2008.Vincent, who was last year banned for life from all cricket after admitting his involvement in match-fixing, claimed he was lured into the practice with offers including a cash bribe masquerading as an advance payment on a bat sponsorship, and subsequently earned US$50 000 (£32 000) for each of the games that he helped to manipulate.
“I was under direct orders from Chris Cairns to be involved in match-fixing,” Vincent alleged under examination from Sasha Wass QC at Southwark Crown Court, where Cairns is on trial for perjury and perverting the course of justice, charges that relate to his successful libel action against Lalit Modi in 2012.
“I looked up to Chris, he was a role model,” Vincent said. “All of a sudden I had been invited into this little world. There was talk of the tournament and how every game is going to be fixed.”
Vincent told the court that his introduction to match-fixing had come via a bookmaker called Varun Gandhi, who offered him a bundle of cash during a meeting in a hotel room and told him that a woman who was also present was there to keep him company.
“I was aware that she was available for sex … that was when the penny started to drop,” he said.
Vincent initially reported the approach to his agent, Leanne McGoldrick, but claimed that Cairns’ subsequent response was to recruit him to his own match-fixing operation.
“‘You have done the right thing’,” Vincent claimed Cairns had told him. “Right, you are working for me now, that will act as good cover’. That was how the whole introduction of being asked to match-fix for Chris Cairns happened.”
Vincent, who had been suffering from depression since being dropped from the New Zealand team the previous year, described how he received instructions “either on the bus or at breakfast” in three or four of the matches that he played in the 2008 ICL tournament. However, he claimed to have struggled to “master the art of getting out”.
“I was under instructions to fix,” he said. “When you are underperforming you just play dead-bat shots, play more defensive, you can control your scoring tempo but the actual art of getting out is actually quite hard.
“One of the easiest ways is to get run-out, hit the ball to a fielder and keep running. Try to get stumped. Miss a straight ball.
“I didn’t master the art of getting out very well. Cairns suggested if I was playing club cricket in England I practice the art of getting out.”
Vincent also alleged that in addition to Cairns the Indian batsman Dinesh Mongia and New Zealand fast bowler Daryl Tuffey were involved in match-fixing during their time at Chandigarh Lions.
Cairns denies charges of perjury and perverting the course of justice. His former barrister, Andrew Fitch Holland, denies a charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
The trial continues. (ESPN Cricinfo)