Chris Cairns's co-defendant in his perjury trial once told a group discussing match-fixing claims against the former Black Cap that "Cairnsy's guilty", a London court has heard.
Cairns is charged with lying when he stated that he "never, ever cheated at cricket" during his 2012 libel case against former Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi.
He also faces a joint charge with barrister Andrew Fitch-Holland of perverting the course of justice by trying to get another former Black Cap, Lou Vincent, to provide a false statement for that libel case.
Giving evidence to the London trial via video link on Monday, former New Zealand allrounder Chris Harris spoke about an occasion in 2010 when Fitch-Holland commented on claims of match fixing against Cairns.
Harris told Southwark Crown Court the incident happened at an exhibition cricket match in England some time after Mr Modi posted a statement on Twitter accusing Cairns of match fixing, but before Cairns began proceedings against the Indian cricket boss.
"I was standing around with a group of players and Mr Fitch-Holland came up to the group and someone said something like 'Poor Cairnsy' or 'What about Cairnsy'," Harris told the court.
"Mr Fitch-Holland replied, to my surprise, 'Oh, he's guilty, Cairnsy's guilty'."
However, Fitch-Holland's lawyer, Jonathon Laidlaw QC, suggested on Monday his client's comment actually referred to Cairns's marriage breakdown.
Harris told the court he did not remember Cairns's marriage being raised in the conversation, but agreed under cross examination it was possible Fitch-Holland could have been referring to it.
Mr Laidlaw also questioned Harris's recollection of the event, noting that Harris had initially incorrectly remembered the incident happening in 2009, and had not mentioned that his wife was among the group.
An earlier statement from Harris was read to the court, in which the New Zealander said he had passed off Fitch-Holland's comment at the time as "a pretty flippant remark".
"I had pretty much forgotten about it until all of this came up, and then I thought maybe it was something I should mention," the statement said.
"I remember thinking it was strange for him to say something like that openly" and that Fitch-Holland might have been "just be trying to make out that he had inside knowledge".
Harris also gave evidence about several matches in the Indian Cricket League.
He described a match in 2008 when he and Cairns were captaining opposing teams at Chandigarh.
"At that venue, it was a big advantage to bowl first," Harris said.
"Chris won the toss and they elected to bat first, which was a surprise to me."
Harris also described another ICL game he watched on television and in which Cairns did not appear to react happily when his side unexpectedly won.
"The camera had focused on Mr Cairns. It was an unusual expression, it was almost that he wasn't pleased they had won," he said.
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