Over the last few weeks I’ve been avidly following the defamation case brought by former New Zealand international Chris Cairns against Lalit Modi, the former head of the Indian Premier League competition. As always cricinfo provides the best source; latest update here. Now that all the witnesses have been heard and the sides are summing up I’d be interested to see what the other doper cricket fans think.
Background
Chris Cairns had a very fine career for over 20 years, and for most of that time was probably New Zealand’s best player. In 2007 he joined the Indian Cricket League, the now defunct rival to the Indian Premier League, and captained the Chandigarh Lions. In 2008 he was dismissed, ostensibly due to failing to disclose an ankle injury.
Lalit Modi is an Indian businessman and the former commissioner of the Indian Premier League. He was instrumental in its formation in 2008. In 2010 he posted a tweet saying that Cairns was not invited to join the IPL due to his history of match fixing. Cairns naturally took exception to this.
The Case
Cairns is suing Modi for defamation in London (a classic case of forum shopping, as UK defamation laws are notoriously plaintiff friendly, some 35 people in the UK received the initial tweet and that’s been ruled to give the UK courts jurisdiction!). Modi is relying on a justification defence (Modi claims his statement is not defamatory because it is true).
Modi’s defence team have raised three main arguments:
a record of substantial payments made to Cairns by a diamond company at the time - Modi’s lawyer alleges these represent the payoff Cairns was receiving for match fixing. Cairns’ argues these payments were for promotional work done for a friend’s company (without any formal contract).
Statements from a number of Cairns’ former Chandigarh teammates saying he had ordered them to play badly from time to time. Cairns’ argues that this is a set up.
Cairns’ uncharacteristic meekness when he was dropped from the ICL back in 2008. He didn’t challenge his contract termination Modi’s team argues because he knew if he had his match fixing would have come to light then.
My take
I really think Cairns has shot himself in the foot here. Modi’s defence has been vigorous and may well prove decisive. I find it entirely plausible that Cairns was greedy enough to go after some easy money while playing in a competition he had no emotional stake in at the twilight of his career.
Cairns may go down with Oscar Wilde, Lord Archer and the British Chiropratic Association as another example of the risks of bringing a defamation action when the statement is true.
Firstly, no such thing as UK laws, it is the law of England and Wales.
Secondly, while I have no knowledge of whether Carins was a fixer and I don’t think he was (at least in this case) he clearly was involved in some dealings which were quite shady, less than transparent etc. Which makes him similar to most cricketers of his era. His career spanned the time when big money began to enter the game and also the time when renumeration was not in consonance with the amount of money that was entering the game. Thus many players were involved in transactions which were less than…well let’s just say honorable.
The problem with cricket in the asian world is it has become a honey pot for crooks and gambling scams , i think there are many crickters invilved probably unintentionally but still involved ,from supplying information or offering information on the pitch . Cairns to me has always been a good and tough sports man and i think his record should not be questioned but he has been incredibly naive while playing in
india .
This reared itshead during the week in Australia, simply because it was raised in evidence that Rod Marsh (former Australian wicket keeper, head of England Academy or some such and generally a larger than life figure on the cricket stage) had refused to sign a bat with Chris Cairns’ name on it due to Marsh believing he had been involved in match fixing. Cairns maintained they sorted that out over a couple of beers.
From watching him over any number of years I would never have thought that Chris Cairns was into that stuff. However, playing for NZ doesn’t get you a lot of money so who knows? I never would have thought Hansie Cronje was a crook.
As you say, Chris Cairns was probably the best all rounder for NZ since Hadlee. And I still remember his father, Lance Cairns playing for NZ.
In the end, I have no idea. I can’t recall seeing him put in a disappointing game for NZ. However, no one really expects NZ to win anything at cricket so it’s not like he would be getting massive odds about the opposition anyway.
I have absolutely nothing to add to the discussion, I would simply like to say that as USA-centric as the SDMB seems at times, I love that the contributions of our non-USA members bring to my attention stuff like this that would otherwise never cross my radar in a million years.
I really do know that, it was just a slip, honest m’lud.
Oh I have no real knowledge one way or the other either, I just find it a fascinating story. You raise an excellent point though, Cairns is one of the bridge generation of players whose career spans the transition from international cricket providing a pretty decent middle class income to the much larger sums we see today. (Fun semi-relevant fact, Ewen Chatfield, a teammate of Cairns’ father, a man who almost died on the pitch while playing for his country (until revived by the opposing team’s physio) and a regular, if unspectacular, member of New Zealand’s strong team of the 1980s is now a taxi driver in Wellington).
Cairns’ image as a player is part of what makes this interesting. He always came across (to me any way) as the epitome of a rugged competitor, the kind of player who gave his all in every match. And the allegations go far beyond anything that could be excused as simple naivete, his former Chadigarh teammates have said Cairns instructed them to bowl poorly or get out while on the field itself.
No one’s alleged that Cairns was fixing games while playing for New Zealand, the allegations and statements only relate to his time at Chandigarh in the ICL (after he’d retired from international cricket). That’s a big factor in making this believable to me, he was nearing the end of his career with an eye on providing for his life after cricket, playing for a team he had no real connection to, and a few lakhs from Indian bookies must have looked very enticing.
I think a lot of the above about being in an era when cricketers didn’t make much is wrong. Post Packer, cricketers were well paid.
Ewen Chatfield, the example cited is 20 years older than Lance Cairns- they never played in a test together. Chatfield was the age of Lance Cairns (mentioned above). It is no secret players of that era were poorly paid. Kerry O’Keefe worked as a security guard and many had to work in the media or as salesmen in order to trade on their name Of course many still do go into the media. However the rewards are far greater. I would suspect that it was because he was playing for NZ that Cairns did not get as well paid as he would have if he had been (as an example) Australian.
As for the IPL, Cairns is stoll young enough to play. Hogg, Gilchrist Hayden blah blah are all around the same age and can compete. Cairns may be at the stage where his injuries have caught up- he had a few of those.
I think you meant ‘Chris’ in the first sentence of your second paragraph. I agree with most of the rest of that paragraph (it’s basically a restatement of what was said before). However I think you’re underestimating how much more players (particularly those from small associations) can get now in the IPL.
Let’s look at some numbers - This storysays in 2011 New Zealand’s highest paid player recieved NZ$177,000 + match fees for playing for New Zealand, say around NZ$250,000 all up. The top NZ player contract for the IPL that year wasRoss Tayloron US$1,000,000!
Chris Cairns missed out on all those juicy paychecks because the IPL only started in 2008, right when his career came to an end due to his ankle.
Even if Chris Cairns were fit to play IPL (which I doubt) losing the case will mean no team will touch him. Actually I suspect crossing Lalit Modi means that already.
You’re right od course- (re Lance and Chris). Can I blame St Patrick’s day?
You’re right about big pays cheques of course. Ross Taylor on $1 million- heavens, not to say he is not a good player but that is a lot of money. I recall going back about ten years when the Kiwis were trying to bait Mark Waugh saying things like "Is he as good as Steve? and “He’s on $50K less than his brother” Mark Waugh came back with “It is still better than the $10K you are making”. So, it was pretty well known that the Kiwis weren’t payed a huge amount.
I must admit I’m a little troubled (probably not the correct term) by your last sentence. Probably perplexed more than that- even if he wins the case he has no future in the IPL (which you state by crossing Modi). However, if a player (any player that is) is suspected of being in the pay of bookies wouldn’t that be pretty well known within the IPL without a Court Case? I will put my hands up now and say I know very little of the IPL/ ICL- I am a tradionalist and have little interest in twenty twenty.
One thing I would draw attention to in regard to Chris Cairns being a rugged competitor, he was a little soft mentally early on (he admitted to that after being coached by Steve Rixon). I believe his sister was killed in a train crash which probably didn’t help.
Finally, isn’t Modi seen as some sort of loose cannon? Not that that means he is not being truthful of course.
I have no view on the truth or otherwise of Modi’s allegation of matchfixing.
I do know that taking a defamation case is very very expensive and Chris Cairns would have to be certain that Modi couldn’t come up with evidence.
Think of it this way: if you were indulging in corrupt practises, you’d necessarily involve other people. Those other people might eventually talk. Would you risk a public trial knowing that one of your minor co-conspirators could suddenly appear in the witness box? So far as I’ve read, no credible witness has confirmed the match fixing by Cairns.
I agree Ken001- it is a game action and one that would not be undertaken without some surety of being succesful.
Going back many years (well before I was born) I believe Syd Barnes sued a writer of letters to the editors in a Sydney paper. Basically, the writer said that Barnes should not query his non selection for some tour as the real reasons may come out. Barnes won and got 5,000 pounds (then a very large sum- well in my household still a large sum ) and donated it to charity.
I have no idea what the “real” reasons were but Barnes eventually topped himself.
Just researched it and it was 1000 pounds and the writer withdrew his claims and paid costs. My memory is getting worse.
Its true that post Packer players went from being paid a pittance to being fairly well off. But, my point is that Carins was the generation of players who saw megabucks enter the game and before it got to the player themselves. For example the 1999 World Cup saw a turnover of literally hundreds of millions of dollers while the players got a few thousand if the were lucky and while they were not on the dole, this discrepancy was identified in the aftermath of the Hansie Cronje business. In the 1980’s and 1990’s it was not unknown for players to supplement their income by playing in exhibition matches and giving information as experts to bookies or getting hold of a sponsor. Wasim Akram paid for his equipment by allowing a sports shop in Manchester to display his likness and that shop then allowed him to obtain equipment for free. Waqar Younis would often be called to the opening of restaurants in London. They were well paid, but it was in the range of a good doctor, rather than what would be made by other sportsmen. Unlike today, when someone like Shahid Afridi can make millions a year.
It’s not unheard of for plaintiffs to bring defamation actions even when they knew the allegations were true - look at Oscar Wilde and Lord Archer’s defamation cases. The irony of it all is I’d wager none of us would have known about Modi’s tweet at all without this court case.
Exactly. Players who make the IPL are making several times the money as they would have got even five years ago.
Cairns wins. Modi owes him £90k plus legal costs. All told, he owes nearly £500k apparently. Modi, conveniently, went bankrupt last week - something that I find difficult to believe, given he was running one of the most lucrative sports leagues in the world until recently.
Modi has leave to appeal on the scale of the damages but the judge has told him that he has leave to appeal on the verdict. Basically, he impugned Cairns’ name and didn’t have anything to back it up.
Modi has leave to appeal on the scale of the damages but the judge has told him that he has** no **leave to appeal on the verdict. Basically, he impugned Cairns’ name and didn’t have anything to back it up.
You can read the full judgment here. Justice Bean was particularly scathing about the defence witnesses and how Cairns was cross-examined. I too find Modi’s apparent bankruptcy suspicious. An attempt to make him judgment proof perhaps?
I doubt Modi cares whether he defamed Carines or not, although I suspect that he will file an application for leave before the Court of Appeal. Its the 1.5 million in costs that will hurt.
And we’re back - Cairns’ perjury trial has begun with Lou Vincentwent up as the first witness, with a whole bunch of other cricketers lining up to give evidence to come.