A UK judge has declared himself "not impressed" after former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns failed to show up for a pre-trial hearing in his perjury trial.

Cairns has pleaded not guilty to a perjury charge stemming from a 2012 libel trial in Britain over alleged match-fixing.

He was due to appear at a hearing on Wednesday at the Old Bailey in London, but his lawyer told the court the hearing date had been forgotten and Cairns was in Australia.