\u201cThey make you feel pretty good and a couple of whiskies later, your ego is pumped up. By that stage, I\u2019d come off a bit of a heavy mental breakdown at the end of my career and to have that sort of attention felt good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man then told him that he was actually running a spot-fixing business and offered him \u201c$15,000\u201d upfront \u2013 but Vincent said he left the room and reported it to his manager.<\/p>\n
Vincent said he was walking back to his hotel room and walked past a fellow cricketer\u2019s room \u2013 who he proceeded to tell about what had just happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that moment of silence it was, \u2018You\u2019ve done the right thing, but now you\u2019re going to be working for me,\u2019 and there I am saying yes straight away,\u201d Vincent said, reflecting on the interaction with the fellow cricketer.<\/p>\n
Former Black Cap Lou Vincent featured in the annual T20 Black Clash cricket match in Christchurch in January. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) found Vincent guilty of 18 breaches of its anti-corruption regulations and imposed a sanction of a life ban from all forms of cricket. He also admitted to fixing games in South Africa, India and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
But after an appeal, Vincent\u2019s ban was reversed in December 2023 \u2013 with the ECB revising the penalties imposed to allow him to participate and be involved in cricket matches at or below domestic level, credited to his full admissions, co-operation with authorities and participation in anti-corruption education programmes for New Zealand Cricket and the ECB.<\/p>\n
Vincent has previously accused former Black Caps teammate Chris Cairns \u2013 who was captaining the Indian Cricket League side they were both playing for \u2013 of approaching him about fixing matches.<\/p>\n
Former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum has also accused Cairns of making a match-fixing approach towards him, but Cairns has consistently denied any involvement in either circumstance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I do talk to these governing bodies, I say it\u2019s not so much the people you don\u2019t know that you have to be worried about, it\u2019s the people that you do know that recruit as well,\u201d Vincent said.<\/p>\n
Lou Vincent and Chris Cairns celebrate during the Black Caps’ One-Day International match against Australia in January, 2002. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Asked what he had to do when he was spot-fixing, Vincent said at the time he was told to score 10-15 runs off 20 balls and get out \u2013 \u201cwhich was pretty much just bat normally\u201d, he joked.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet paid 50 grand for batting normally. Okay, no worries,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not so much about the winning and losing of a game, it\u2019s about, you know, what\u2019s bet on in segments of the game and sessions of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said in one of the last games he spot-fixed in, he planned to charge the bowler and get out stumped, but accidentally hit the ball for six, \u201cso I wasn\u2019t very good\u201d.<\/p>\n
Lou Vincent celebrates a double century against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve, Wellington in 2005. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
After the botched fixing attempt, Vincent said he was approached aggressively by the individual who recruited him \u2013 saying that he cost the business millions of dollars and wouldn\u2019t be paid what he was owed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a double kick in the guts by morally doing things wrong and then obviously not getting anything for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vincent said he decided to come clean about his match-fixing after looking in the mirror and thinking about the double-life he was living.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that stage I had two young daughters and you\u2019re trying to teach them trust and being loyal and to have good morals, [but] how can you say that when you weren\u2019t?<\/p>\n
\u201cCricket gave me everything. It gave me a life. I wasn\u2019t mentally prepared for the professional world and it showed with my inconsistencies and certainly the [mental] breakdown towards the end … it\u2019s rather sad because I was clearly good enough, and to not fulfil my potential was frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lou Vincent, pictured at Southwark Crown Court in London with his partner Susie Markham, on October 14, 2015. Photo \/ Chris Gorman<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019d lost a lot of friends after coming clean about his cheating, which was \u201ctotally expected\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou meet a lot of people in that world, but there\u2019s only one or two that stick by you through the tough times.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a real hard road, a long road since the end of my career and where I\u2019ve got to today, it\u2019s definitely taken its toll … I didn\u2019t make any excuses and I\u2019ve owned it and done my time, I kind of feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vincent said there were times he\u2019d look in the mirror and question whether he had made the right decision by admitting to match-fixing, but that he \u201cwouldn\u2019t change anything\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe relationship with my two teenage daughters is estranged unfortunately, and dealing with alienation as a parent … the cricket stuff was hard but to go through family court and live without your daughters around is frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he now has a wife, an 18-month-old son and is awaiting the birth of a daughter, who is due in two weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a second chance at a family. It\u2019s a simple life and a drama-free life, and I\u2019m stoked to be invited to these events where I can really share my stories to help associations and the integrity in sport around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey make you feel pretty good and a couple of whiskies later, your ego is pumped up. By…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1443,66406,13916,7022,4464,6932,66405,6125,2837,2174,1888,2740,6489,78,2344,66403,3242,66402,66404,111,139,69,1864,2680,213,66407,1262,810,14225,6923,80],"class_list":["post-87705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-about","tag-approached","tag-asked","tag-black","tag-cap","tag-cash","tag-cricketer","tag-disgraced","tag-during","tag-exchange","tag-first","tag-former","tag-games","tag-in","tag-india","tag-involvement","tag-large","tag-lou","tag-matchfixing","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opened","tag-opens","tag-sports","tag-sums","tag-syndicate","tag-up","tag-vincent","tag-what","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}