Chris Cairns opens up on match-fixing allegations on him

Former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns got a lot of attention from all around the world after the all-rounder was named as one of the match-fixers. Several former Kiwi cricketers including batter Brendon McCullum, and Lou Vincent among others, revealed that Cairns had approached them to take the money and fix matches.

However, the former all-rounder has had a very tough time recently in his personal life. It may be noted that the 51-year-old was on life support, and was paralyzed from below the waist after suffering a stroke during one of his four open-heart surgeries last year. Not only that, the former Kiwi all-rounder was also diagnosed with bowel cancer earlier this year.

I harbored a lot of anger and frustrations: Cairns

After facing so much trauma and a near-death experience, Chris Cairns has been recovering well and believes that the past few months have made his mind tough.

Speaking on a podcast hosted by NZME, Cairns said: “I harbored a lot of anger and frustration, but I carried that silently. I dug my hole in Australia and got on with life … but I was angry. But now, after the last seven months, it’s so far down my thinking. It’s not a priority. It seems like another time, another place.”

“Maybe during that time it (the match-fixing trials) built up the steel in me that allowed me to survive what I went through – because it was about survival at that time, I was on my own, cast as the villain, that was my role. Building that resilience up, who’s to say that wasn’t a contributing factor in helping me fight,” he added.

Chris Cairns played cricket for New Zealand from 1989 to 2007 and was considered to be one of the best all-rounders going around. He played 62 Tests and 215 ODIs for his country, amassing 3320 Test runs and picking 218 wickets, while in ODIs, he scored 4950 runs and picked 201 wickets for the Black Caps.