New Zealand’s Lou Vincent gets life ban for match-fixing

Disgraced former New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent received a life ban from cricket for match fixing by the English and Wales Cricket Board after he admitted that he had breached the ECB’s anti-corruption regulations. He was involved in match fixing of five games and there are total 26 charges against him.

“My name is Lou Vincent and I am a cheat. I have abused my position as a professional sportsman on a number of occasions by choosing to accept money through fixing. I have shamed my country. I have shamed my sport. I have shamed those close to me,” he said in a statement confirming the ban. The 35 year old has also given evidence to international cricket council (ICC) anti-corruption investigators in which he says he was involved in fixing in five countries between 2008 and 2012.

Vincent played 23 Tests, 102 one-day internationals and nine Twenty20 internationals before retiring from international cricket in 2007.Vincent is accused of fixing matches in Twenty20 and 50-over matches while playing English county cricket for Lancashire and Sussex. In June he was banned for three years in Bangladesh for failing to report approaches to fix matches.

“Laying bare the things I have done wrong is the only way I can find to begin to put things right. It is entirely my fault that I will never be able to stand in front of a game again. It is entirely my fault that I will not be able to apply my skills in a positive way to help future cricketers. I do suffer from depression, but it is absolutely no reason or excuse for all I have done wrong. The people who know me know I am vulnerable. But they also know I am not stupid and that I know what is right and what is wrong,” he added.