AFP/Dunedin


New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum broke his silence yesterday on the not guilty verdict in the Chris Cairns perjury trial, saying he stood by testimony he gave against his former teammate. Cairns, who was last month cleared of match-fixing related perjury charges, has demanded McCullum explain why he chose to appear as a prosecution witness.  
Speaking for the first time since the verdict 10 days ago, McCullum said he was “very comfortable” with the evidence he gave in London court and it was time to move on.  
“For me, it wasn’t about whether someone was guilty or not guilty. My role was to go and give the evidence in the trial and I remained pretty unemotional about it, to be honest,” he said in Dunedin as he prepared to lead New Zealand into a Test series against Sri Lanka. “I don’t think my reputation has been on the line during the whole thing. I was one of a number of witnesses who gave evidence.”  
While journalists wanted answers about the Cairns trial, McCullum wanted to talk about the first Test against Sri Lanka starting yesterday. “People have their own opinions on what unfolded but I am comfortable with it and it’s time to focus on a bit of cricket now,” he said, adding that he would not be responding to Cairns’ “please explain” demand in a newspaper column last weekend.
“I don’t think I have to do that,” he said. “I was very comfortable with the evidence I gave in London and I stand by that evidence as well. This is not the forum to discuss this sort of thing.”  
In his evidence, McCullum said Cairns had approached him with a “business proposition” about match-fixing. But Cairns told the court the discussion in 2008 related to spread-betting and it was “completely wrong” to suggest spread-betting was the equivalent to match-fixing.  
Cairns, meanwhile, faces the prospect of a further court hearing with former Indian cricket administrator Lalit Modi considering a fraud charge against the former allrounder.  But McCullum was non-committal about whether he would testify against Cairns again. “It’s speculation. Again this is not the forum to be discussing that sort of thing. We’ll see what happens down the line.”
Batsman McCullum suffered a form slump in New Zealand’s recent Test series against Australia but said that could not be attributed to the distraction of the Cairns trial. “It’s certainly no excuse for any rough performances or the fact maybe I didn’t get as many runs as I’d like. That’s the game we play sometimes and I’m very much looking forward to the Sri Lankan Tests,” he said.
Whoever wins the toss is expected to bowl on a favourable wicket in the first Test and McCullum said the most pressing issue he faced was who would be New Zealand’s 12th man.

Doping, Cairns questions shroud first test buildup in Dunedin

Dunedin: A positive doping test and questions over a contentious criminal trial in London have threatened to overshadow the first test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which begins today.
The match in Dunedin was supposed to contain the storyline of a Sri Lanka side in transition and a New Zealand team looking to build on the momentum from their series in Australia before a return clash at home next February.
Instead, news broke on Tuesday that Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kusal Perera had tested positive earlier this year for a banned substance and was forced to return home.
Coach Jerome Jayaratne told reporters that Perera had taken medication for an insect bite on his foot, with the belief that the treatment was not on the banned list of substances.
Then yesterday, home captain Brendon McCullum was subjected to questions concerning the recent Chris Cairns criminal trial in London, where the former all-rounder was acquitted of perjury and perverting the course of justice charges.
Despite suffering a 2-0 loss to Australia, McCullum’s side head into the Sri Lankan fixtures as heavy favourites, having been unlucky not to have snatched a share of the spoils across the Tasman as they improved the longer the series progressed.
As well as the dashing strokeplay of Perera at number seven, the visitors have also lost pace bowler Dhammika Prasad to a back injury after their only warm-up match in Queenstown ended in a draw.
The side were already in transition after the international retirements in the last 12 months of two of the game’s all-time greats in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.
Such a blow, of losing the experience gained in accumulating more than 20,000 test runs between the pair, would rip the heart out of most teams and Jayaratne has acknowledged that his side are on a steep learning curve.
Their biggest concern will be the fact that only three of their batsmen, Dimuth Karunaratne, skipper Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, have batted in New Zealand in a Test before.
The inexperienced top seven will also come under fire from new-ball pair Tim Southee and Trent Boult, who were building some rhythm against Australia and are likely to relish the more bowler-friendly conditions at home.