Former New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns is expected to make a statement over the next two days after consulting lawyers over reports linking him to an International Cricket Council investigation into match-fixing.
Cairns, who is due to lock horns with fellow former New Zealand international Simon Doull in a charity boxing bout in Auckland on Saturday, didn’t appear at a media conference on Wednesday for the Fight for Life event.
Promoters said the former allrounder had reaffirmed his intention to step into the ring.
However, he was preparing to make a statement in relation to the ICC investigation over the next 24 hours and would not be attending any media engagements before then.
Cairns was one of three former Black Caps, along with Daryl Tuffey and Lou Vincent, who were last week named in media reports as being linked with the investigation.
Vincent confirmed he was co-operating with the investigation, while Tuffey said the ICC was seeking his help in relation to the ongoing inquiry.
However, Cairns, in a column in a Sunday newspaper, said no one from the ICC or New Zealand Cricket had approached him about the issue and he hit out at being subjected to more rumour and speculation.
In 2012, Cairns won a libel action against former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi, who had accused him on Twitter of match-fixing.
On Monday, he said he had engaged lawyers from that case to look at the latest allegations.
Doull, who is part of the television commentary team for the second cricket Test between New Zealand and the West Indies in Wellington, was also absent from the Fight for Life media conference.