• Landmark case concerns accusations by tweet
• Former New Zealand all-rounder refutes allegations
The former New Zealand and Nottinghamshire all-rounder Chris Cairns denied accusations that he had been involved in match-fixing in the rebel Indian Cricket League in 2008 on the first day of a landmark case in London's high court, where he is claiming substantial damages from the former Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi for an alleged libel on Twitter.
Modi had accused Cairns of match-fixing in a tweet posted in January 2010, saying that was the explanation for his exclusion from the list for the IPL auction.
The case has been described as a "clearcut" example of libel tourism, with Modi's lawyers claiming that the tweet was read by only 35 people in England and Wales, whereas evidence for Cairns claims a figure of up to 95. Cairns says that having lived in England when his father Lance, also a New Zealand international, played here, and then again when he was employed by Nottinghamshire, he values his reputation in this country highly.
Cairns has already secured undisclosed damages from Cricinfo, the cricket website which picked up on the tweet. But Modi has declined to apologise and pleaded justification, maintaining the allegation is true. Cairns said in evidence it was "wholly untrue" and, if uncorrected, would destroy all he had achieved over a 20-year career with 62 Test appearances for New Zealand.
"The defendant's allegations have also had a profound effect on my personal and private life," he said. "It put a strain on my marriage. It hurts that my wife may think that I am not the man she thought I was.
"It hurts me too that friends, many of whom are former cricketing foes, will question my integrity as a man and a sportsman, and that all I achieved in the great game of cricket is dust."
Cairns was then pressed by Modi's counsel, Ronald Thwaites QC, in four hours of cross-examination, and said he was "offended" by suggestions that an ankle injury had been fabricated to cover up his abrupt departure as the captain of the ICL franchise Chandigarh Lions.
Thwaites also questioned the 41-year-old over payments of 900,000 dirhams (about £155,000) he had received from Rough Diamond Traders, a company based in Dubai. Cairns said he had a verbal agreement to do PR work for it, having learned about the diamond trade in Antwerp.
The case is being heard by Mr Justice Bean, without a jury, and is expected to last two weeks. Modi, who was suspended from his role as commissioner of the IPL in April 2010 over separate claims, has promised evidence from six Indian players who say Cairns was involved in match-fixing, and Andrew Hall, the former South Africa all-rounder and Northamptonshire captain who also played for Chandigarh Lions in the ICL, is due to be called as a witness.