Cairns' trial is set for October

Former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns. Photo / Getty

Chris Cairns' perjury trial looks set for October after he pleaded not guilty to a charge relating to a 2012 libel trial over alleged match-fixing.

The former New Zealand cricket all-rounder appeared at the Old Bailey for a plea and case management hearing yesterday.

Cairns' barrister from the 2012 case, Andrew Fitch-Holland, appeared alongside him and pleaded not guilty to one count of perverting the course of justice.

Cairns has been charged with perjury over a 2012 libel action in which he sued the former chief of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi, over claims he was involved in match-fixing.

Factors for consideration in perjury cases include whether it was planned or spontaneous, whether it was persisted with, whether the lies or fabrications had any impact on the proceedings and whether the activities of the offender drew in others.

Cairns has always denied any wrongdoing and described match-fixing claims against him as "despicable lies".

Both men have said they will be fully contesting the allegations.

Cairns won $174,000 in damages and $775,000 in costs when he sued Modi, who made spot-fixing allegations on Twitter in 2010.

Cairns was arrested and charged by the London Metropolitan Police in September, and remains on unconditional bail until the trial.

He is accused of lying during his written testimony in the libel action when he said he had "never cheated at cricket and would never contemplate doing so".

Modi has also issued legal proceedings against Cairns to claw back $4.9 million in damages and costs.

The prosecution asked for the trial to be held off until October to allow several cricketers to give evidence during an international break. New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum is expected to be among them.

Perjury conviction precedents in the UK include the novelist and politician Lord Jeffrey Archer in 2001. He was sentenced to four years' jail on two counts of perjury and two of perverting the course of justice.

The maximum sentence, if convicted, is seven years.