Chris Cairns is cleaning bus shelters to provide for his family

Testing times: Chris Cairns with wife Mel Croser. Pic/Getty Images

New Zealand's former star all-rounder Chris Cairns has rolled up his sleeves to help provide for his family. Cairns is currently involved in a court battle to clear his name off match-fixing, and the mounting legal expenses have forced the 44-year-old father of four to go out into the street, quite literally, to seek work.


Testing times: Chris Cairns with wife Mel Croser. Pic/Getty Images

Council job
Cairns has reportedly taken up a job with the Auckland council, where he drives a truck that goes around water-blasting bus shelters in NZ's capital city. The cleaning job earns the former cricketer a modest $17 an hour.

One of Cairns' best friends and former NZ cricketer Dion Nash spoke to nzherald.co.nz's The Diary about his pal's problems. "He (Cairns) is trying really hard and supporting his family the best way he can. He's not moping around, he's showing guts and doing hard work by cleaning bus shelters," said Nash, adding that he stands by his friend on the fixing issue.

"All I can do is support him, but as a friend it is really hard to watch his name being dragged through the mud with no conclusion in sight. He's a champion guy and he will come through this stronger," added Nash.

Glam gone by
The current situation is in stark contrast to Cairns' glamourous lifestyle in Dubai in 2010, where he worked as a diamond trader and had purchased a 3.2 carat diamond while proposing to his third wife, Mel Croser.

Mother-of-two Croser (34), who works as a project manager, recently told a women's magazine that her husband took up the cleaning job because "he has no choice, he has to provide for his family.

We have bills to pay like everyone else. We don't own a house, we're paying rent and getting by is a struggle." Cairns and his family however, continue to live in Herne Bay, Auckland's most expensive suburb.