LOU Vincent, the first witness to be called to give evidence in the Chris Cairns perjury trial at Southwark Crown Court, has told the court how Stephen Fleming, his former New Zealand captain, confronted him in a bar and accused him of being “dirty”. Vincent, who was last year banned from all cricket after admitting to match-fixing, was giving evidence for the third day running, after Mr Justice Sweeney, the presiding judge, adjourned Tuesday’s hearing early due to Vincent’s visible distress in the witness box.
Under cross-examination from Orlando Pownall, QC, who is representing Cairns, Vincent was asked to recall the details of a confrontation with Fleming during the Champions League tournament in South Africa in 2012.
Fleming, whom Pownall described as having a reputation for being “incorruptible”, was then coach of the IPL franchise, Chennai Super Kings, while Vincent was playing for Auckland.
“He said, ‘I know you’re dirty, I know Chris is dirty’,” Vincent told the court. “It was quite harrowing for a respected figure to corner you in a bar. It didn’t make me feel good. I just wanted to run and hide.”
Vincent, who admitted on Tuesday to fixing “three or four” matches for Chandigarh Lions during the Indian Cricket League (ICL) in March and April 2008, was asked by Mr Pownall whether he had continued to fix matches following Cairns’ suspension from the competition in October, when Vincent’s scores in his next four matches were 14, 0, 33 and 1.
“Did you fix any matches in those games or not?” Pownall asked.
“I clearly don’t remember,” Vincent replied.
Rumours continued to circulate around Chandigarh Lions following Cairns’s suspension, but Mr Pownall put it to Vincent that he had continued to be “supportive” of his former captain even after his departure from the competition.
“At that point of time, I was mates with Cairns, so of course,” Vincent replied.
The ICL folded soon afterwards, leaving Vincent out of pocket to the tune of US$750 000, according to Mr Pownall. It was replaced by the Indian Premier League (IPL), a tournament officially recognised by the ICC, and run by Lalit Modi, the man whom Cairns successfully sued at the High Court in London in 2012, following his tweet in 2010 stating that Cairns was a match-fixer.
An email chain produced by the defence showed that Vincent had been in contact with Modi in 2010, asking whether it was his intention to go “head-to-head” with Cairns in court. An offer was also made for the pair to meet for coffee, but Vincent claimed that he had never taken it up.
Vincent told the court that he had been “disgusted at reading the lies from Chris Cairns” during the libel case but, when pressed by the defence on why he had not given evidence against his former captain, he claimed his allegiance was still to Cairns, and that he feared he would not be paid if he testified against him.
Instead Cairns, who denies two counts of perjury and perverting the course of justice, is accused of persuading Vincent to give a false witness statement on his behalf in the libel case.
“Did you think Chris Cairns was completely mad to ask you to give evidence?” asked Mr Pownall.
Vincent replied: “No, because I was working for him and he needed me to help him.”
Mr Pownall responded: “The reason why he asked was because there was no corrupt activity between the two of you and you could give a truthful account.”
The case continues. (ESPN Cricinfo)