by Our Sports Desk

FORMER New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent claimed he was never going to report his “shrewd” captain for fixing games because he was his “mentor” and “mate,” a court heard yesterday.

Vincent said Chris Cairns convinced him to take part in match-fixing while they were both playing for the Chandigarh Lions in India.

The retired cricketer, 36, said he felt “empowered” that Cairns had placed trust in him.

Giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court in London, where Cairns is on trial for perjury, Vincent said: “I wasn’t going to report Cairns because he was my captain, my coach, my mentor.”

Vincent, who said he personally had been “greedy,” added later that he was “never” going to report Cairns.

“He was a New Zealander,” he said, adding: “He was a mate. And he was going to look after me.”

Vincent said Cairns was a generation above him on the New Zealand team.

“He used and abused me,” he said.

He added later: “Cairns was very shrewd and he would never speak about match-fixing on the phone.”

Vincent told the court they would turn the volume up on the television in hotel rooms so that people walking past would not hear their discussions.

Asked why he had never recorded conversations with Cairns, Vincent said: “I wish I had because we wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

The jury was shown clips of cricket matches in which Vincent had played and he was questioned about his performance.

At one point in the exchange between Vincent and Orlando Pownall QC, for the defence, Vincent said: “I strongly disagree with your cricket opinion on that.”

Earlier Mr Pownall described part of Vincent’s account as “absurd.”

He also commented on Vincent’s responses to his questions. He said: “‘I can’t recall’ is an expression you use often.”

Vincent reflected on his own behaviour, telling the jury: “I’m ashamed of what I did.”

He deliberately underperformed in four games in 2008 after Cairns allegedly agreed to pay him $50,000 (£32,500) per match.

On Monday he described Cairns as the “orchestrator and the recruiter for fixing at the Lions.”

He claims he was not paid the money he had been promised but was “too intimidated” by Cairns to confront him about it.