Lou Vincent (left) said while on the witness stand during the perjury trial of Chris Cairns that former New Zealand captain and teammate Stephen Fleming, right, accused him of being 'dirty' when he bumped into him at the Champions Trophy in South Africa in 2012.

Recidivist match fixer Lou Vincent was shaken when former New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming confronted him, telling him he was "dirty".

Former Black Cap Vincent, a key witness in the London perjury trial of Chris Cairns, had bumped into Fleming at the 2012 Champions Trophy tournament in South Africa.

Fleming, who was coaching Chennai, unleashed his attack when he saw the Auckland Aces opener.



"I know you're dirty, I know Chris Cairns is dirty, it was quite a harrowing experience," Vincent told Southwark Crown Court on his third day in the witness box.



"It didn't make me feel very good as a human being, I just had to run and hide."

Fleming did not mention Cairns at all, said cross examining lawyer Orlando Pownall, QC, acting for the accused former all-rounder.

Vincent must have worried that if Fleming knew he had been match fixing, how many others did, he said.

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Two players in England had reported match fixing approaches from Vincent, so he must have felt he "had nowhere to turn".

When Vincent in 2013 admitted match fixing to the International Cricket Council (ICC) it was an act of self preservation, Pownall said.

Now a confessed match fixer who is banned for life, Vincent has portrayed himself as a man out to save other players from the "evil world" of match fixing.

"I'm doing it for the greater good of the game," Vincent said.

Pownall, however, had a different take on his motives.

"You're doing what you're doing for the greater good of Lou Vincent," the lawyer said.

Cairns, 45, is charged with lying under oath, a criminal charge which carries a maximum sentence of seven years' jail.



On the day exactly 15 years since his century against India led the Black Caps to their only world title, the ICC Champions Trophy in Nairobi, Cairns was in the dock of the London court, his cricket colours replaced by a jacket and blue jeans.

He sat silently as Pownall tried to put runs on the board for him.

In the witness stand, a man who throughout the trial has referred to Cairns as "the biggest icon player for me growing up" batted away blackmail accusations and talk of a blockbuster biography.

Vincent was accused of attempted blackmail by Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, acting for Andrew Fitch-Holland.

Why, Laidlaw wondered, had Vincent taped a Skype conversation he had in March 2011 with his client Andrew Fitch-Holland, a legal adviser to Cairns?

Fitch-Holland is charged with perverting the course of justice for allegedly asking Vincent to provide a false witness statement for Cairns in the 2012 Lalit Modi libel hearing.

Cairns took the Indian businessman Modi to court after he alleged in a tweet the former Black Caps captain was linked to match fixing.

Laidlaw put it to Vincent that he was trying to get money out of one party, or the other.

He had been in touch with Modi by email, but neglected to tell Fitch-Holland that, or that he was taping the call.

"It might be useful, with that information in it, to blackmail Cairns or help the other side, Modi?" Laidlaw said.

Vincent had been in touch with Modi nine months earlier. He had played in the Chandigarh Lions team Cairns captained.

Their exchange started with "Lalit, hope all is well are you and Chris Cairns going head to head soon, played with him in the ICL, cheers."

Modi responded it seemed he was headed for court.

When Vincent asked if he had a good case, Modi said "seems that way, a lot of your colleagues came forward and gave the facts."

Vincent also asked Modi for his phone number when the libel hearing was on in March 2012, explaining to the jury he was annoyed with the "lies" he was reading in reports of the trial.

But he never called Modi, who lost the case and was ordered to pay Cairns damages and costs.

As well as being an alleged blackmailer, Vincent was also said to be penning a ripsnorting biography about his times as a match fixer, called Hero to Zero.

Vincent objected to notes he said he had taken as psychotherapy, and to help him develop a chronology of his match fixing events, being characterised by Pownall as a "book".

He told crown prosecutor Sasha Wass, QC, he had nothing in publishable form, nor an agent.

Vincent and his wife Susie had spoken of a "book" to New Zealand Cricket Players' Association boss Heath Mills, and even mentioned its title, Pownall said.

Pownall suggested Hero to Zero referred to Cairns.

Mills may have misinterpreted the conversation, Vincent said. Hero to Zero referred to him, but there was no book.

Cairns allegedly offered Vincent US$50,000 (NZ$75,000) per match to under-perform by batting slowly when he was playing for the Chadigarh Lions.

The day ended with legal argument around what material can be used by the defence.



In his testimony Vincent focused on the dark underbelly of match-fixing, where results or scoring rates are rigged in advance so those in the know can cash in.



It also took in his personal woes, his battle with depression after being dropped from the Black Caps in 2007 and his use of cannabis and anti-depressants.