Former New Zealand cricketer Chris Harris remembered a “number of strange incidents” in matches Chris Cairns played in India, a court heard on Monday.
The perjury trial of Cairns, 45, entered its third week at Southwark Crown Court by hearing evidence from former international team-mate Harris via video link.
They both played in the Indian Cricket League when they retired from the international game, Harris for the Hyderabad Heroes and Cairns for the Chandigarh Lions.
Harris recalled the coin toss when he captained Hyderabad in an October 2008 match against Cairns, who was heading the Chandigarh Lions.
“At that particular venue in Chandigarh, the toss tended to be very important,” he said. “The team that won the toss and bowled first won eight out of 10 games. It was a big advantage to bowl first.”
But Cairns elected to bat, Harris told the court. He said: “That was a surprise.”
Harris also mentioned a game between the Mumbai Champs and the Chandigarh Lions in 2008. Mumbai batted first and scored a “modest total”, then Chandigarh struggled in the run chase until the wicketkeeper came in and scored very quickly to win the game.
Harris said it was a “splendid innings”, which turned the game on its head, and the television camera focused on Cairns, who seemed unhappy with the upward swing in his team’s fortunes. “It was an unusual expression, it seemed he wasn’t pleased they had won,” he told the jury. But when shown video footage in court of that game, Harris agreed Cairns had celebrated the victory “with a fair amount of emotion”, but added: “I don’t believe that was the footage I saw”.
Cairns is charged with perverting the course of justice and perjury. He denies both charges.
