Lou Vincent, pictured at Southwark Crown Court in London with his partner Susie Markham, on October 14, 2015. Photo / Chris Gorman
Disgraced former New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent has opened up on how he was first approached by a match-fixing syndicate in India and what he was asked to do during games in exchange for large sums of cash.
The 46-year-old, who represented the Black Caps in 23 test matches and 102 One-Day Internationals, spoke to Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB today on how the underground spot-fixing world changed his life for the worse.
In 2014, Vincent became New Zealand’s first professional sportsman to receive a life ban after confessing to match-fixing.
Vincent said he was first approached by a spot-fixing ring while playing in the Indian Cricket League – a direct rival of the Indian Premier League – after being let go from the Black Caps in 2007.
He received a call from an Indian man offering him a bat sponsorship, which he said was not unusual at the time, and decided to meet with him.
“They make you feel pretty good and a couple of whiskies later, your ego is pumped up. By that stage, I’d come off a bit of a heavy mental breakdown at the end of my career and to have that sort of attention felt good.”
The man then told him that he was actually running a spot-fixing business and offered him “$15,000” upfront – but Vincent said he left the room and reported it to his manager.
Vincent said he was walking back to his hotel room and walked past a fellow cricketer’s room – who he proceeded to tell about what had just happened.
“In that moment of silence it was, ‘You’ve done the right thing, but now you’re going to be working for me,’ and there I am saying yes straight away,” Vincent said, reflecting on the interaction with the fellow cricketer.
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.
But after an appeal, Vincent’s ban was reversed in December 2023 – 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.
Vincent has previously accused former Black Caps teammate Chris Cairns – who was captaining the Indian Cricket League side they were both playing for – of approaching him about fixing matches.
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.
“When I do talk to these governing bodies, I say it’s not so much the people you don’t know that you have to be worried about, it’s the people that you do know that recruit as well,” Vincent said.
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 – “which was pretty much just bat normally”, he joked.
“Get paid 50 grand for batting normally. Okay, no worries,” he added.
“It’s not so much about the winning and losing of a game, it’s about, you know, what’s bet on in segments of the game and sessions of the game.”
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, “so I wasn’t very good”.
After the botched fixing attempt, Vincent said he was approached aggressively by the individual who recruited him – saying that he cost the business millions of dollars and wouldn’t be paid what he was owed.
“It was a double kick in the guts by morally doing things wrong and then obviously not getting anything for it.”
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.
“At that stage I had two young daughters and you’re trying to teach them trust and being loyal and to have good morals, [but] how can you say that when you weren’t?
“Cricket gave me everything. It gave me a life. I wasn’t mentally prepared for the professional world and it showed with my inconsistencies and certainly the [mental] breakdown towards the end ... it’s rather sad because I was clearly good enough, and to not fulfil my potential was frustrating.”
He said he’d lost a lot of friends after coming clean about his cheating, which was “totally expected”.
“You meet a lot of people in that world, but there’s only one or two that stick by you through the tough times.
“It’s been a real hard road, a long road since the end of my career and where I’ve got to today, it’s definitely taken its toll ... I didn’t make any excuses and I’ve owned it and done my time, I kind of feel.”
Vincent said there were times he’d look in the mirror and question whether he had made the right decision by admitting to match-fixing, but that he “wouldn’t change anything”.
“The 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.”
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’ time.
“I’ve got a second chance at a family. It’s a simple life and a drama-free life, and I’m 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.”