Ricky Ponting has backed up Brendon McCullum's story at Chris Cairns' perjury trial, telling a London court he was with the New Zealand cricketer when "Cairnsy" called with a business proposition.
The former Australian captain appeared at the Southwark Crown Court via video link on Tuesday, and gave evidence about an incident in 2008 when he was with McCullum at a hotel in India.
Ponting told the court he remembered McCullum receiving a brief phone call, then telling him: "That was Cairnsy, and he just made me a business proposition".
"As soon as I heard it was about business, I wasn't interested anymore," Ponting said.
McCullum last week told the court that following the call, he went to meet Cairns, who asked him to become involved in match fixing.
Cairns's lawyer, Orlando Pownall QC, asked Ponting whether he had inquired about the call again, but the Australian said the conversation had not made a great impression and he had not followed it up.
"I had no idea what the proposition or proposal was, so it wasn't a remarkable thing," Ponting said.
"Brendon's business and personal life were none of my business."
Ponting's evidence was briefly halted when the video link froze, but it was another line of defence questioning that proved more awkward.
Mr Pownall noted that cricket was a game affected by many factors.
"Whether you bat first, who's chosen to be part of the team, these are examples of decisions made that may, depending on the outcome, come under scrutiny," he said.
To illustrate the point, Mr Pownall referred to the Ashes Test between Australia and England at Edgbaston in 2005 when the hosts triumphed by two runs after Ponting chose to field first.
"Perhaps now you wish you had chosen differently?" he asked.
Ponting disagreed, saying: "No, not at all."
When Mr Pownall suggested the team would have won had Ponting's decision been different, Ponting replied: "May have won would maybe be more accurate."
Later on Tuesday, New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White was questioned by the defence about the events around the investigation of Cairns from 2013.
It was suggested that Mr White had colluded with anti-corruption officials to ensure McCullum would not be suspended from the 2015 World Cup for his delay in reporting Cairns' approach about match fixing.
"That you effectively threw away the rule book so McCullum could play, and so that another cricketer should be hung out to dry, that being Chris Cairns," prosecutor Sasha Wass QC summed up.
Mr White replied: "No, absolutely not."
Another Crown witness, Phil Hayes, who played briefly with Lou Vincent in England, later told how Vincent had drunkenly confessed his match-fixing involvement to him in 2009.
Mr Hayes said hearing Cairns was a match-fixing ringleader came as a bolt from the blue.
He said Vincent told him he had messed up a fix, and had been threatened by Mr Cairns with a cricket bat.
Cairns faces a charge of perjury in relation to a 2012 libel trial in which he stated that he had never, ever cheated at cricket.
He and co-defendant barrister Andrew Fitch-Holland also face a charge of perverting the course of justice for allegedly trying to get Vincent to provide a false statement for the libel case.
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