• Says ‘no truth’ to allegations he tried to persuade team-mate to cheat • New Zealander says he and Ricky Ponting “don’t send Christmas cards.”

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The former New Zealand cricket captain Chris Cairns has repeatedly denied any involvement in match-fixing as he defended himself against accusations of perjury.

Cairns, who played 277 times for his country over 17 years, told a jury there was “no truth” to allegations he had tried to persuade his team-mate, Lou Vincent, to join in with cheating.

Cairns was also questioned about his relationships with former teammates and opponents and when asked how he got on with former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, the 45-year-old smiled and said: “Very well, from a competitive point of view. We don’t send Christmas cards. We had the odd verbal stoush on the field. He was very competitive, I was very competitive.”

The former Australian skipper previously gave evidence that he was with Brendon McCullum when the New Zealander received a phone call from Cairns about a “business proposition”. The Black Caps captain has told the court the phone call turned out to be about fixing games.

Cairns is charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, while his friend, Andrew Fitch-Holland, 50, is accused of perverting the course of justice. Asked by his barrister, Orlando Pownall, at Southwark crown court in London whether at any stage he was involved in match-fixing, Cairns replied: “No.”

Pownall went on: “Did you contemplate match-fixing?”

Cairns again replied he had not.

Dressed in a blue jacket, blue jeans and a light blue shirt, Cairns repeatedly batted away allegations he had tried to coerce former team-mates into fixing matches.

The court heard he signed a three-year contract in 2008 to play for and captain the Chandigarh Lions in the Indian Cricket League, worth $350,000 a year.

He was “very excited” about the prospect of earning so much money at the tail-end of his career, particularly after he had a “significant drop” in his salary while playing cricket for New Zealand in the years before.

During the trial, the jury was told by his fellow Lions player Vincent that Cairns had ordered him to fix games by deliberately playing badly.

Vincent said he also told Cairns that an Indian man had offered him cash and a prostitute to get involved in fixing, and that Cairns told him: “You did the right thing … that’s good cover, right, you’re working for me now.”

Cairns said he could not recall Vincent telling him he had been approached to fix matches, adding: “If he had, we would have been straight off to [ICL administrators] Howard Beer and Tony Greig.”

He also denied having told Vincent that he “worked for him now”.

When Pownall asked: “Did you at any stage seek to persuade him, successfully or not, to underperform?” Cairns replied: “No.”