Chris Cairns not guilty.

I spent a couple of hours at Southwark Crown Court the week before last whilst Cairns barrister Orlando Pownall QC summed up in his defence. He pronounced Cairns like Carnz and when talking of Brendan Mccallum, he appeared to call him “Mr McGollum”. He stood, leaning on his desk with his hands and addressed the jury slowly and, I thought, slightly patronizingly. The jury of seven women and five men, appeared to listen attentively and when Pownall directed them to notes in their file they dutifully scanned them, sharing one copy between two jurors, rather like school kids in a class.

Cairns sat up straight in the defendants box, occasionally folding his arms and leaning forward. The security detail in the box with Cairns and his co-defendant appeared to snooze. The young blonde journalist in front of me fiddled with her hair and checked for texts. Other than us, there were just three other people in the public gallery in the underwhelming atmosphere of court two Southwark Crown Court. It was the antithesis of courtroom drama.

Friends in London predicted the not-guilty verdict. Cricketing friends back in New Zealand predicted the reverse. Clearly the end of a chapter, not the end of the story.

Cairns was regarded by some commentators as one of the great all-rounders. In 2000 he was one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. He played in 62 tests for New Zealand and between those missed another 55 through injury. Richard Boock the Auckland based sports writer thought that Cairns without injuries was at the same level as Sir Ian Botham. High praise indeed.