Vincent banned for life by ECB

Lou Vincent, the former New Zealand batsman, has been banned for life by the ECB after he admitted breaching the ECB's anti-corruption regulations. Hours before the penalty was announced, Vincent released a statement saying that he was a cheat and that he had accepted money to under-perform.

Vincent is banned from "all forms of cricket" and prevented from "playing, coaching or participating in any form of cricket which is recognised or sanctioned by ECB, the ICC or any other National Cricket Federation." The ECB said Vincent had pleaded guilty to 18 breaches of its anti-corruption code in reference to three matches: a Twenty20 match between Lancashire and Durham in June 2008, a Sussex v Lancashire Twenty20 match and a Sussex v Kent CB40 match both played at Hove in August 2011. During these matches, Vincent had committed 11 offences punishable by a life ban under ECB anti-corruption regulations.

The life ban on Vincent has also been extended to the Champions League T20. Vincent pleaded guilty to seven charges related to entering into agreements with bookmakers for financial gain and match-fixing in the 2012 CLT20 in South Africa. Vincent had played for the Auckland Aces in the CLT20 and the matches under scrutiny included those against Hampshire on October 10 and Kolkata Knight Riders on October 15. He was also charged with failing to report an approach from a bookmaker in the 2011 CLT20.

NZC chief executive David White said the organisation was, "appalled" by Vincent's actions, "and supported the penalty handed down."

The anti-corruption case around Vincent relating to county cricket had, ECB CEO David Collier said, "crossed different cricketing jurisdictions and required close collaboration and intelligence-sharing between both our own anti-corruption unit, other domestic boards and the ICC's ACSU." He described Vincent as "an individual who repeatedly sought to involve others in corrupt activity for his own personal gain has accepted that his conduct warrants a lifetime ban from cricket." The terms of the ban, the ECB said, had received "the approval of the ECB's independent Cricket Discipline Commission".