Chris Cairns warned over evading questions as perjury trial continues

Chris Cairns continued to deny match-fixing as he gave evidence for a second day in his perjury trial in London.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court heard Cairns had been paid £162,000 by his diamond dealer 'pay masters' in return for fixing matches.

The New Zealand all-rounder moved to Dubai in 2008 with his partner to work for a family in the rough diamond industry, a move he said was to build a career after retiring from the sport.

But a jury was told the real reason was much more sinister - that the businessmen were bankrolling his lavish lifestyle in payment for throwing games while playing in India.

They also paid for three other men - including two suspected of match-fixing - to try to involve them in the scams, it was alleged.

Giving evidence for a second day at his perjury trial at Southwark Crown Court, Cairns was unco-operative on the witness stand, repeatedly evading questions from prosecutor Sasha Wass QC to such an extent that he was warned by the judge to directly answer them.

The court heard Cairns, 45, was paid more than $250,000 by Vijay Dimon, a diamond firm run by father and son Vijay and Vishal Shah - the latter the New Zealander had previously met during a charity cricket event.

Cairns said the money was to set himself up in Dubai, which had a "brutal" rental market, where he worked for the business by meeting clients, speaking at dinners and acting as an ambassador.

But Ms Wass said: "I am going to suggest it was a reward for your part in fixing matches."

Ms Wass said he had told fellow cricketers Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum they could earn tens of thousands of dollars for fixing games, and that everyone was doing it.

As Cairns repeatedly denied the suggestions, she added: "You had a piece of the pie, didn't you? You had a very fat piece of the pie."

Cairns replied: "I was trying to create a career post-cricket, trying to become involved in their business."

In April 2008, the Shahs' business paid for Cairns and his Chandigarh Lions team-mates Lou Vincent - a self-confessed cheat - and Daryl Tuffey to go to Dubai. Ms Wass said Mr Vincent and fellow cricketer Brendon McCullum accused the trio of being involved in match-fixing.

She told Cairns: "You were being given a free holiday by your paymasters," to which he replied: "I refute that."

A fourth player, Matt Elliott, was also invited, but had to pay his own way as he was not involved in match-fixing, Ms Wass suggested.

Cairns was also accused of giving Mr Vincent $2,500 in cash, which he denied, while another time he returned £9,000 to cricketer Daniel Vettori for a diamond engagement ring - money Cairns kept at home.

Asked why he had so much cash, Cairns said it was from speaking engagements and one-off matches, but Ms Wass said: "I suggest you were given large amounts of cash by people who you were working for, match-fixing." Cairns replied: "No."

He told the court he was committed to a future with his new Dubai business partners, even travelling to Bangkok to take a three-month diploma on polished stones.

But when Ms Wass asked how many speeches he gave and clients he met while working for the company, Cairns repeatedly evaded the question and refused to give a straight answer. Ms Wass asked him why Vishal Shah would not make a statement to explain the initial payments to Cairns, he said: "I have become very toxic and have tried to ask a lot of people."

And when she pushed him, asking: "Did you try to ask him?" Cairns refused to answer.

Ms Wass said: "I am going to suggest they would have found it extremely difficult because your business with them was to do with match-fixing." Cairns replied: "No."

It was only when he was later asked by his own barrister, Orlando Pownall QC, whether he had asked the Shahs to testify that he said he had, but that "like a lot of people" they would not agree.

Cairns also denied "grooming and targeting" Mr Vincent to involve him in match-fixing.

He suggested that Mr Vincent's wife, Eleanor Riley, had lied by claiming Cairns told her at a meal in 2008 that, if her husband joined him in cheating, "everything would be all right because everyone was doing it", telling the jury: "That conversation never happened."

The New Zealander also said he could not remember the nature of an apparent "business proposition" he had discussed in India with Mr McCullum - which Mr McCullum said was an approach to join him in rigging games.

Cairns was also asked whether he had directly approached Lalit Modi, the chairman of the Indian Premier League, about why he accused him on Twitter in January 2010 of having a "past record of match-fixing", an allegation which prompted a successful libel action and £90,000 damages from Mr Modi.

Cairns said the "reckless" tweet had "demolished 17 years of hard work" in building his reputation, and was a "death sentence" to his career. But asked why he had not tried to contact Mr Modi following the allegation, Cairns said he "had no means of communicating with him".

Instead, he made a statement to the media through his legal adviser, Andrew Fitch-Holland, and suggested that it was "an oxymoron" to suggest trying to reason with Mr Modi. And he refused to answer questions on whether he thought there was a "conspiracy" by some of those who did not testify on his behalf in the libel action but are now giving evidence against him, suggesting Ms Wass was "getting riled".

Cairns told the court the allegations of match-fixing have had a huge impact on his life, saying his father - also a former New Zealand cricketer - had been snubbed at this year's World Cup, while his own media work had dried up, forcing him to become a labourer. He told the court: "You've got to earn a buck."

Cairns is accused of perjury and perverting the course of justice, while Fitch-Holland is alleged to have sought a false statement to support him in his 2012 libel case.

Both deny the charges, and the trial continues on Thursday.