Chris Cairns trial: Phil Hayes shocked by Lou Vincent's match-fixing confession

Lou Vincent's confession of matchfixing came as a shock to Phill Hayes. Photo / Chris Gorman

A confession of match-fixing from former New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent came as a "bolt from the blue", a court has been told.

Phil Hayes, who played club cricket in the UK with Vincent, told Southwark Crown Court, where Chris Cairns stands trial on charges of perjury and perverting the course of justice, that he received a phone call from Vincent asking for a ride in 2008.

Hayes - whose testimony followed evidence from former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, player agent Leanne McGoldrick and New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White - said that Vincent told him he needed to pick up a visa but the pair ended up having a drink at an Indian restaurant.

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Hayes said he was "left to his own devices" while Vincent went out to a backroom at the restaurant for some time.

The court had earlier been told that Vincent was given a large sum of money at the restaurant as payment for match-fixing for an Indian matchfixer, not Cairns. It was at a later time in 2009, that Hayes said Vincent confessed his involvement in match-fixing.

Hayes said Vincent told him he started match-fixing during his time in the Indian Cricket League, an unsanctioned T20 tournament, under the instructions of Chris Cairns.

Vincent also mentioned to Hayes that Daryl Tuffey, another former New Zealand international who played for the Chandigarh Lions with Vincent and Cairns, was involved.

Chris Cairns outside Southwark Crown Court. Photo / Chris Gorman

Hayes said the confession was a "bolt from the blue" and included details such as how Vincent messed up an alleged fix by hitting a six - instead of getting out - and was later threatened by Cairns with a cricket bat.

Vincent was at a "low ebb" in his life said Hayes, working as a tiler in Manchester with no cricketing prospects. He described Vincent as drunk but "coherent", in a confessional mood where he detailed "everything that had gone wrong with his life".

The biggest surprise for Hayes was later learning that Vincent was involved in fixing games in the UK, which "never once crossed my mind" despite seeing bad scores.

He came forward to give a witness statement after seeing a news article which he felt alluded that Vincent was "blurting out stories" to implicate others because of his depression. That "didn't sit well" with Hayes, who had a close relative who also had mental health issues.

Tuffey was never charged by the Met Police or called as a witness at the trial, by either the Crown or lawyers for Cairns.

'Completely shocked'

Earlier in the day, Cairns' former manager, Leanne McGoldrick, said she was "completely shocked" and did not believe New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum when he told her Cairns approached him about spot-fixing.

McGoldrick represented Cairns between 1999 and 2004 during the peak of his powers, as well as a number of New Zealand players such as Shane Bond and Lou Vincent who were contracted to the Indian Cricket League in 2008.

McCullum was also a client at that time and McGoldrick told the court about when she hosted McCullum and his wife for dinner at her home.

The social occasion occurred shortly after New Zealand had toured England in 2008. McCullum asked her whether she thought anyone in the New Zealand cricket team had ever been involved in match-fixing, or spot-fixing.

"I said no, I didn't think anybody had."

Then she said McCullum asked whether she thought Chris Cairns was involved, to which McGoldrick said no.

McCullum then told her that he met with Cairns during the recent tour of England and asked whether he knew how to spotfix.

"He said that Chris said it was easy to manipulate a result and easy to do.

"I was completely shocked and I could not believe what he was saying. I asked whether he was absolutely certain, had he misunderstood? Brendon said no, he hadn't [misunderstood]."

McGoldrick then asked whether McCullum had reported the approach and he told her he was going to.

She was certain that McCullum had already told Daniel Vettori, the captain of the New Zealand team at the time, and possibly Stephen Fleming, the former national captain and a mentor to McCullum.

Under cross-examination by Orlando Pownall QC, the defence lawyer representing Cairns, McGoldrick agreed that it was not complicated for players to understand that match-fixing approaches should be reported.

She also agreed that McCullum did not tell her about the earlier alleged approach from Cairns in Kolkata and thought that McCullum and Vettori were going to report Cairns to the ICC together.

Private meeting

McCullum did not report either alleged approach to the International Cricket Council until 2011. A delay in reporting can lead to a playing ban of between one and five years.

Asked by Mr Pownall whether McCullum told her that Lou Vincent and Daryl Tuffey were involved with Cairns, McGoldrick said no.

McCullum told the court that Cairns said to him that Vincent and Tuffey were working for him, but had not mentioned their names in official statements until last year.

The player agent also told the court about the time that Lou Vincent, playing for the Chandigarh Lions in the Indian Cricket League in 2008, had been approached by an Indian matchfixer.

She was having a drink with Bond, the fastbowler, downstairs in the team hotel when Vincent told them he had been offered money and a woman. "I asked whether he touched the money, he said no. I asked whether he touched the woman, he said no."

Her impression of the approach was that it happened in Vincent's room, although the next day he clarified that it happened in the match-fixer's room.

McGoldrick told Vincent he was "silly" for meeting in private room, rather than a communal area where others were present.

She told Vincent to report the approach to Tony Greig, the chairman of the ICL who was a former player and television commentator until his death in December 2012.

McGoldrick said she immediately called Tony Greig, who in turn reported what happened to Vincent to Howard Beer. The former detective was the anti-corruption officer for the ICL.

Cains denies the charges against him.

The case continues.