Brendon McCullum to testify against Chris Cairns in perjury trial

Brendon McCullum

New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum has said that he would testify against former Blackcaps all-rounder Chris Cairns next year in a perjury trial, reports Sydney Morning Herald.

"I guess it's not ideal at all but you've got to protect the game," McCullum was quoted as saying on Saturday in a radio interview. The Chennai Super Kings’ opener is expected to be part of a group of 12 leading cricketers who will be called up to have their say in the trial against Cairns. The ex-international was sued to have approached fellow cricketers with intentions to lure them into corruption.

McCullum was in the news when his testimonial to the ICC was made public during the IPL season earlier in the year. The player feels that he was in the news for wrong reasons but will co-operate to the fullest because of the need to keep the game clean.

"The media have almost made me feel like I'm the one on trial which doesn't seem quite right," claimed the 33-year-old cricketer.

"But I would still do it again because I know that's the obligation you have as an international cricketer. You have to stamp out corruption and that's ultimately led me to making my statement to the ICC (International Cricket Council) and the anti-corruption unit," he added.

Cairns is looking forward to the trial and has even stated that as an opportunity to face his accusers in an open forum, so that he can clear his name once and for all. Notably, he won a defamation suit against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi who accused him of corruption but was later charged with a perjury. The former player was recently in the news for taking up a job to clean bus shelters to provide for his family. The trial starts on October 2016.