Cairns a prime scalp for unit, court hears
LEFT-ARM spinner Daniel Vettori has appeared on television many times, yet being beamed into a London courtroom telly as a perjury trial witness is surely new ground to a man who has experienced most of what professional cricket has to offer.
New Zealand captain from 2007 until 2011, Vettori was scheduled to be first witness up overnight in the Chris Cairns trial that has occupied courtroom one at Southwark Crown Court for 21⁄2 weeks.
Vettori was in the Nagpur room where now-New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in 2011 told International Cricket Council anti-corruption investigator John Rhodes that Cairns had talked to him about spread betting, which is related to spot fixing.
Former Black Caps all rounder Cairns, 45, is accused of lying under oath when he said he’d ‘‘never’’ cheated at cricket.
In the witness box yesterday, Rhodes told the jury about McCullum coming forward to report Cairns, then anti-corruption unit chairman Sir Ronnie Flanagan outlined how that material would have been actioned – not just filed in a ‘‘cupboard’’.
Both denied McCullum and other New Zealand cricketers – Vettori among them – who were aware of fixing taking place, had at the expense of Cairns avoided discipline for failure to report what they knew, as they must under ICC rules.
The contention of Orlando Pownall, QC, was that ‘‘corners were cut’’ by Flanagan’s unit, with the aim of getting the ‘‘scalp’’ of Cairns.
Given that the harshly criticised unit had been for succeeding in only two prosecutions since it was formed in 2002, Cairns was a prime ‘‘scalp’’, Pownall told the court.
Flanagan suggested his unit was being mistaken for a policing force, when it was not. ‘‘The main priorities are prevention, disruption, and only then prosecution.
‘‘It’s not how we go about our business, or how we went about our business in this case. If scalp turns out to be an appropriate description it’s an absolute tragedy.’’
Rhodes told the court Vettori had accompanied McCullum and as he gave his statement remained in the room, under advice he should not interrupt.
‘‘Mr McCullum presented to me as a very nervous young man, he wasn’t sure where to start.’’
He requested his home board – New Zealand Cricket – not be told, which Rhodes told the court was ‘‘not an abnormal thing’’.
Flanagan painted a bleak
picture of the effect of corruption on players.
He likened those who set out to corrupt to paedophiles, who first praised a player for their talent, then lavished them with gifts, and offered sponsorship deals.
The ‘‘grooming’’ could escalate to players being caught in a ‘‘honey trap’’ where they could be photographed in a compromising position with a woman presented to them as a gift.
Players caught up in corruption attempts suffered, he told the jury. ‘‘They feel physically sick, feeling they’ve been drawn into something they never wanted to be part of.’’
He had ‘‘no feelings of great concern’’ that New Zealand players who gave evidence in the Cairns case – McCullum, Vettori, Kyle Mills, Shane Bond and Andre Adams – had not immediately reported fixing approaches.