The lawyer left only half an hour for Cairns' counsel, Andrew Caldecott, QC, to make his closing argument but he will continue tomorrow, after which Justice David Bean is expected to retire to consider his verdict.
Mr Thwaites said "a plot was hatched", between Cairns and his vice-captain Dinesh Mongia in their approach to Indian players to get them to fix matches.
"He has adopted a pattern of behaviour that appears several times in this case. Mongia would soften them up and then the claimant would approach them and sound them out.
"It would make it harder to prove match fixing against the main man."
Mr Thwaites said one of the six players who have given evidence, Ablish Love, was "told he would be a waterboy" if he did not follow through.
"To be a waterboy was a rather demeaning term... It's not pulling the water from the well, but pouring the water bottles for the players.
"They were prisoners, they were being abused... like they were in an orphan home, abused by everyone around them, can trust no one.
"They knew that by committing to the ICL they were not accepted elsewhere. That's why I describe it as a diabolical scheme."
Cairns signed a three-year, $1 million contract with the ICL in 2008, but when he was axed in October of that year, there was still $700,000 owing.
He insists he was fired because he failed to declare an ankle injury, exacerbated by a 1000km charity walk in memory of his sister.
Mr Thwaites called Cairns a liar several times yesterday, because the cricketer had claimed the ICL's anti-corruption officer Howard Beer was not present at his termination meeting. On the stand, Mr Beer, insisted he was.
He added that Cairns had "brushed off" his questions when cross-examined during the case last week, but he had painstakingly questioned the players' evidence "paragraph by paragraph".
"Some of the Indian players idolised him, he was their hero... it shows what kind of man he is, aggressive, assertive, someone you wouldn't want to tell that his $700,000 contract was over and expect him to walk away.
"He may be a man with a short fuse, but he has managed to control in this case. He is not a person to mess with."
Cairns has been questioned over his involvement with diamond trading company Vijay Dimon in Dubai, where he lived with his wife, who was still his girlfriend at the time, Melanie Croser.
He received three payments, totalling $250,000 at the time of the third edition of the ICL.
Cairns has maintained that the money was for relocation costs and promotional work he was doing for the company.
Mr Thwaites admitted that he could not connect the head of the company "to anyone in the world of gambling", but questioned why Cairns had not called anyone from the company as a witness.
His said one of the payments was made in August, when Cairns became involved with the company, but he had had no time to do any work for them in between setting up his new home in Dubai, travelling to South Africa to see his two sons, travelling to New Zealand in September for the charity walk, and starting his ICL contract on October 4.
"What service can he be of in that short time?" Mr Thwaites asked.
"We can't find a single piece of work that provides a press release, a photo of him with members of the company, to substantiate an existence of a lawful contract.
"If a professional cricketer of Mr Cairns renowned were to sell his soul to a bookmaker, it must be asked that he receives his award in advance.
"An intelligent man would take money for his corruption ahead of doing the dead in case they turned around and said 'Sorry chum, you're a chump, we're not going to pay you'. You can hardly sue over a contract."
Mr Thwaites pointed out again that there was no formal contract for his work with Vijay Dimon, saying: "Let's pause and consider what you would do if you didn't want a question mark hanging over your head for the rest of your life over a suspicious payment."
The lawyer had earlier tried to call a last-minute witness and have the case adjourned until Friday, but was refused.
Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who was the coach for the Lions for the first two editions of the ICL, gave an interview to Indian network, NDTV this week, in which he said he glad players "had the guts to come out in the open and accuse (Cairns) of match fixing".
The court had already heard evidence about a statement made by Mr Sandhu to Howard Beer, saying he had been fired due to infighting with Cairns and the team's strength and conditioning coach.
But Mr Thwaites, QC, claimed: "He's a witness who has come out of the cupboards. He's revealed himself as willing to speak on the subject... this is not a step lightly taken. It will be too late next week. It is not too late now. There will be a statement by the close of play today taken from Mr Sandhu provided to the court.
"At the end of the day, if this case is won by the defendant, he will not feel aggrieved at being kept from substantial evidence."
But Justice Bean said: "There is nothing in this application and I refuse."
Speaking only for 20 minutes, Andrew Caldecott starting a general summing up in which he said Cairns had no reason to fix matches as there was "no evidence that he was facing anything which can be described as financial hardship."
He agreed to make a submission of what damages Cairns should receive upon the judge's verdict, should he rule in his client's favour.