KEY POINTS:
Auckland batsman Lou Vincent has joined New Zealand's cricket outcasts after the national body cancelled his contract for signing with the rebel Indian Cricket League.
Vincent signed on for the Twenty20 league last week without seeking permission from NZC, as his national contract stipulated.
He is the 10th
New Zealand player, all past internationals, to have joined the ICL. In doing so, he joins a group who have been told other players will be selected for New Zealand ahead of him - the official view of the ICL.
Six played in the first edition of the competition late last year - Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Hamish Marshall, Nathan Astle, Daryl Tuffey and Craig McMillan.
Vincent follows Shane Bond, Andre Adams and Adam Parore signing on in the last three weeks.
Vincent flies out today, along with fellow Auckland players Adams and Tuffey, all three walking out two days before Auckland host the State Shield final against Otago.
"I have met with Lou and the New Zealand Cricket Players Association over the past couple of days and have expressed to them how disappointed I was that Lou had breached his NZC contract," New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said.
"I'm very unimpressed. You can't do that. We stand by these contracts regardless of performance or injury and we expect players to do the same."
Talks with Vincent, 29, came to an end yesterday. Last month Vincent went public on his battle with depression.
He played 23 tests, starting with 104 on debut against Australia at Perth in 2001. It was the first of his three test hundreds, including his highest score of 224 against Sri Lanka in Wellington three years ago.
He averaged 34.15, while in 102 ODIs he averaged 27.11, also with three centuries.
Vaughan was puzzled by reports that NZC had taken a tough line with Bond, who requires a "no objection" certificate to play for English county Hampshire this year. Any non-English player requires the release from his home board and Bond does not have one.
Hampshire had requested a clearance from NZC early yesterday.
Vaughan said as Bond is no longer contracted to NZC it had no authority to give or withhold consent to play in England. However if it was an England Cricket Board requirement that players must have home country approval, NZC would look into it.
The ECB says it "clearly demonstrates a preference towards players and officials who do not participate in unofficial events".