Lou Vincent was a former New Zealand cricketer. His career spiralled down when he openly admitted to match-fixing. Consequently, he was banned from all forms of cricket. His life has been mostly on a downward trajectory.
It has been 11 years since Vincent was suspended for his role in attempting to manipulate matches in various countries - including India, England, South Africa and Bangladesh.
"I pretty much destroyed my life, destroyed my career, destroyed my future in sport." That’s how former New Zealand cricketer, Lou Vincent, described his regret at being involved in match-fixing, which resulted in a life ban, loss of reputation and inability to do what he loved.
He had a great start to his international career – he made a hundred on Test debut against Australia – and played 23 Tests and more than 100 ODIs for his country. He described how he fell prey to cricket corruption in 2008 during his stint with the now-defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL) after losing his New Zealand central contract. He was introduced to match-fixing by former New Zealand all-rounder, Chris Cairns.
Vincent told the Australian Associated Press that he had rebuffed and reported the first "down payment," before peer pressure and avarice got to him.
"I was a prime target to be dragged in; a brotherhood who will look after you," he said. "The league that we were playing in wasn’t sanctioned by the ICC, so how it was sold to me was like, 'these games we’re playing in, it’s not real cricket… so you’re not doing anything wrong and everybody’s doing it'," he recalled.
His role in the game would be to score a pre-decided number of runs in a predetermined number of balls, and then get out.
Vincent, who works as a builder in New Zealand now, feared for his safety and that of his family, described as a, "noose around his neck" till he retired from cricket and came clean.
"I’ve had to start life again and missed out on a career in a sport I love. In a strange way, by owning what I did and being given an opportunity to use my story as a massive educational lesson for the next generation, it’s kind of been worth it."
"I’ve got a powerful message to the next generation and the future generation of sports players where they can easily be manipulated or corrupted into this dark underworld, which I’ve lived first-hand," he said. "The biggest influence I can have and we can have in the sports integrity world is purely education and the more young athletes know about it, the more they’ll be aware of the signs and the people to avoid."
A century at the WACA (Perth) on debut against an all-star Australian side led by Steve Waugh in 2001, a breathtaking 224 on his last home Test - all appearing like fiction from another world. Sport doesn't guarantee a strong finish to a bright start. If anything, it becomes tougher and tougher as the career progresses.
Despite taking this into consideration, Lou Vincent's quick rise and epic fall appear unbelievable. An all-format regular in New Zealand's XI since making his debut in 2001, the right-handed opening batter saw himself driven out of the game due to multiple anti-corruption breaches.
Vincent played his last international match in 2007. He then moved to England to play County cricket and played in T20 leagues across the globe, but his involvement in match-fixing brought an untimely end to his career.
In 2014, Vincent pleaded guilty to 18 breaches of the anti-corruption regulations, four of which related to a Twenty20 match between Lancashire and Durham in June 2008.
The remaining 14 charges related to two fixtures played at Hove in August 2011, a Sussex v Lancashire Twenty20 match and a Sussex v Kent CB40 match.
He was given a life ban from all forms of cricket in 2014, becoming the first New Zealand sportsperson to be banned for life for his involvement in unlawful activities. The ban was partially lifted in 2023. in between, the opener, who also has a Test century against India in Mohali, went through hell and back.
The former New Zealand batter, who received 11 life bans for match-fixing, has seen his punishment partially relaxed after an appeal that included words of support from England’s current head coach, Brendon McCullum.
Vincent’s global ban was issued by the Cricket Discipline Commission in the UK in 2014 after admitting to 18 breaches of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s anti-corruption code while playing in three county matches: for Lancashire against Durham in 2008 and for Sussex against both Lancashire and Kent in 2011.
The CDC announced that while the international ban remains, he can now participate – i.e. attend or possibly coach – at professional domestic level or below. It comes after an appeal by Vincent and the New Zealand players’ union that highlighted his co-operation with authorities and work in anti-corruption education programmes.
The appeal, which was heard by Gerard Elias KC on behalf of the CDC and featured submissions from NZC, the ECB and the ICC, included a transcript of McCullum’s 2016 MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture. The former New Zealand captain and current England coach had argued for clemency, given Vincent’s admission of guilt and his role as a fellow witness in the 2015 trial that saw Chris Cairns acquitted of perjury.
Speaking at the time, McCullum said: "While loathing the fixing activities Lou took part in, I have nothing but admiration for him for the way in which he accepted responsibility for his actions and acknowledged guilt. I also think he demonstrated remarkable courage in giving evidence against Cairns."
"The insight that Lou was able to provide into the dark and sinister world of match-fixing was, I think, invaluable. It would have been very easy for Lou to say nothing – to refuse to cooperate – but instead he laid his soul bare at considerable personal cost."
"Perhaps the worst part is that Lou is unable to go to a cricket ground anywhere in the world. He can never watch his children play at any level. I struggle with the severity of this when a player has cooperated fully and accepted responsibility."
Reacting to the news of his revised punishment, Vincent said in a statement: "I made a terrible mistake many years ago which I’ll deeply regret for the rest of my life and I remain very sorry for the harm I caused."
"Being able to return to the cricket environment means the world to me and I feel very fortunate to again have that opportunity."
New Zealand Cricket has publicly welcomed the outcome and has said that Vincent was looking forward to, "supporting and helping the game at a community level […] and attending cricket matches with his family."
Vincent now lives in a remote part of New Zealand’s north island near Ninety Mile Beach, where he makes a living "doing up old s---ty houses."
He was spotted giving a speech at a cafe a stone's throw away from Basin Reserve, where he scored 224 against Sri Lanka in his last Test match at home. Wearing shirts, ties and shoes doesn't come naturally to him now. He, in fact, doesn't own a formal shoe and tie now. “Most of my clothes are from the op shop [charity shop] because I will only get paint on them. It is why I wear converse shoes to a formal event. I don’t have anything else. Sandals, converse or bare feet," he told The Telegraph.
"Some members of my family have been turned against me, which I have had to live with, but I have faith that time heals a lot of wounds," he explained. "I have to think that. Being alienated from my two daughters will always be the most devastating thing. And I’m hoping, over time with little bits I do in public, my girls will see that Dad made mistakes, and they’ll hopefully see me as a good guy and reconnect with me."
"The other thing is just losing the guys who I played cricket with. I want to eventually go back to England to possibly give back to the game whatever way I can to rekindle some of the friendships I’ve crushed because of my involvement in fixing."
"Losing respect in the cricketing world is something that has been hard, but again, self-inflicted. I’ll never make an excuse or blame anyone else apart from myself. So we’ll see where it takes me. Today could be a start," Vincent, who played 23 Tests, 102 ODIs and 7 T20Is for New Zealand, said.
The constant courtroom visits, the gruelling trial and regular abuse on the streets took a toll on Vincent's mental health.
"Suicide has been my mindset, even as early as when I was 27. And it was always in the back of my mind. I totally understand why people do it. Because you just want a release. You want to be away from the pain. If you don’t do that, you either drink and take drugs to sort of mask it, but the powerful thing is, you just need to embrace the feeling of that depression and that anger and that hate and go through the stages of rehabilitation to a certain point of finding love for yourself, because that’s the only way you can really properly heal. It’s taken many years to love myself."
Cut to today, Vincent now is a changed man. He has made peace with his life. He knows he lost the life of a cricketer but he is also aware that it was no one else's fault. At 46, he now doesn't expect forgiveness but just wants to be accepted.
Lou Vincent has definitely lived a turbulent life. Peer pressure can be extremely difficult to ignore and walk away from. The best thing that he could do and ultimately did, was to own up to it. He clearly regrets it and has moved on. I'm sure he'll live a more peaceful life now.
To me, time can heal wounds.