Lou Vincent (born 11 November 1978) is a former New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and opening batsman. He has represented

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in Test match,

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

and

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

cricket as well as playing for

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in New Zealand domestic cricket and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

and

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

in English domestic cricket. In December 2013, it emerged that Vincent was being investigated by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

's anti-corruption unit (ACSU) in relation to allegations of his involvement in the spot-fixing of dozens of professional cricket matches, including matches in the

Indian Cricket League The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a short-lived cricket league that ran from 2007 to 2009. It was sponsored by Zee Entertainment Enterprises, a media company. The ICL had two seasons, featuring four international teams and nine domestic teams ...

, the

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, the Bangladesh Premier League and the Champions League Twenty20. In June 2014, the

Bangladesh Cricket Board The Bangladesh Cricket Board (; abbreviated as BCB), formerly known as Bangladesh Cricket Control Board, is the governing body of cricket in Bangladesh. It became an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1977, and a Lis ...

found him guilty for not alerting authorities that he had been approached and banned him for three years. On 1 July 2014, he accepted that he was involved in

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

on many occasions. The

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

imposed a lifetime ban on Vincent playing in any form of cricket, applying to sanctioned matches by the ECB, the

or any other national cricket federation. On 8 December 2023, his ban from domestic cricket was lifted, it remains in place for international cricket.

Early and personal life

Vincent was born in Warkworth, New Zealand, and is the son of well known

ABC NewsRadio ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...

sports announcer Mike Vincent. Vincent became interested in cricket at an early age as his father used to represent Eden Roskill Cricket Club of Auckland in first grade cricket and took Lou to all the international matches at Eden Park. At the age of 15, his parents separated with Mike and Lou moving to Adelaide in Australia where Lou began playing in the age-tournaments. After Vincent was left out of several important age-group games by his coach, he decided to move back to New Zealand at the age of 18. When Vincent returned to New Zealand he had the opportunity to play for New Zealand in the 1998 Under 19 Cricket World Cup. He played for Esholt Cricket Club of the Bradford Cricket League in England during the off season while continuing to play for

in New Zealand domestic cricket. He also considered

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

ing as a career and has umpired

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

. In 2023, Vincent was living in the Southland town of Lumsden.

Domestic career

First-class cricket

Vincent played for

from 1997 to 2008, competing in the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octo ...

First Class competition, the Ford Trophy Domestic One Day competition and the HRV Cup Twenty20 competition. In 2006, Vincent signed for

to play county cricket for part of the English season. He had a fine debut on 25 June, making 83 from 91 balls to help set up a 50-run win over

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

in the

C&G Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...

. Lancashire League side Ramsbottom announced that they had signed Lou Vincent as a professional for the 2008 season despite strong interest from the Australian domestic side Southern Redbacks in signing him. Vincent replaced the previous club professional, Sunil Joshi. Vincent had also played for

Central Lancashire Cricket League The Central Lancashire Cricket League (CLCL) was a fifteen team cricket league, traditionally based in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was then based in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. The league ran competitions at First T ...

side

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

in 2005 where he had an impressive league tally for the season of 656 before having to miss the last 10 games of the league after being called up for New Zealand's training camp ahead of a series in Zimbabwe. Whilst playing for Ramsbottom, Vincent signed for

as a replacement overseas player for the duration of the 2008

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

tournament. He replaced Mohammed Yousuf as the club's overseas player, who himself had replaced the Australian Brad Hodge – both were on International duty. Lancashire's cricket manager, Mike Watkinson, said that the club ''"have brought in a player with a great reputation in the format who will add firepower to our top order. He is an exciting player and excellent fielder, just what we need for Twenty20 cricket"''. Vincent made his debut during the Championship game at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire. He made 5 in the first innings and 19 in the second innings with the match finished in a draw. Vincent made his Lancashire Twenty20 debut against Leicestershire hitting 31 from 26 balls with Lancashire won the game by 52 runs. During Lancashire's seventh Twenty20 group game against Derbyshire at Old Trafford Vincent hit 102 from 63 balls which included 11 fours and three sixes with a strike rate of 161.90. Lancashire won the game by 9 wickets and Vincent was named man of the match. Through this innings Vincent became the fourth Lancashire player to hit a Twenty20 century, the previous players being Mal Loye, Stuart Law and Brad Hodge. The innings came after Vincent was controversially dropped for the Yorkshire home game 72 hours earlier which Lancashire lost by 4 runs at Old Trafford. Vincent followed this up by hitting 56 from 36 balls in Lancashire's eighth Twenty20 group game against Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford. The innings included 9 fours and one six with a strike rate 155.56. Vincent won the man of the match award for the second time in three days and helped secure Lancashire's qualification to the Quarter Finals where they were drawn to play Middlesex. Lancashire succumbed to a narrow defeat by 12 runs and were eliminated from the tournament. Lancashire announced that Vincent was to stay on at the club as their overseas player for the remainder of the 2008 season. Brad Hodge, Lancashire's Australian designated overseas player for the 2008 season, could not return to play for Lancashire due to the ill health of his wife. Hodge had been playing in the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

and for Australia during their tour of the West Indies and was due to return to Lancashire. In 2010 Vincent played for Northants in the T20 competition. In the 2011 season Vincent represented Sussex for all forms of the game. In 2025, he would make his return to cricket as the first recruit for Team Cricket for the annual ''Black Clash'' T20 charity match, to be held in Hagley Oval, Christchurch on 18 January 2025.

International career

A right-handed batsman, Vincent made his Test match debut in 2001–02 when he opened the batting against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. In a bizarre New Zealand first innings of 534/9 declared which saw four players make hundreds but no one else reach double figures, Vincent made 104. He followed this up with 54 in the second innings. In 2005–06, Vincent hit 172 in a

against

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

to set a new record for the highest individual innings for

in ODIs, beating Glenn Turner's 171 not out against

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

in the 1975 World Cup. Vincent's innings came off just 120 balls, and included 16 fours and nine sixes. Vincent was recalled into the New Zealand squad for the Commonwealth Bank Tri Series due to the sudden retirement of veteran Nathan Astle midway through the series. Once in Australia he became New Zealand's most prolific run scorer, with three consecutive half centuries, contributing to three consecutive totals of over 290. Vincent played in the early stages of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean but after scoring a century and fielding well he caught a blow in the nets from Shane Bond and fractured his wrist. He was replaced in the squad by Hamish Marshall. After being dropped from the national team due to the implementation of a rotation policy and despite his good form Vincent suffered from

Major depressive disorder Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive depression (mood), low mood, low self-esteem, and anhedonia, loss of interest or pleasure in normally ...

and his contract with New Zealand Cricket was then later terminated with his signing for the Chandigarh Lions of the

cited as the reason. Some commentators have mentioned unfair treatment of Vincent by the then New Zealand coach John Bracewell as the main cause for his departure from the national team.

Awards

* Vincent has won five

and one Test match Man of the Match awards. * Vincent has won two

Man of the Match awards while playing for

in English domestic cricket. * Vincent won Lancashire's Player of the Month award for June 2008.

Achievements and records

* Vincent equalled the most runs scored in boundaries (118 runs in boundaries) by a batsman in an ODI innings, when he scored 172 against Zimbabwe on 24 August 2005. * Vincent became only the sixth New Zealander to make a hundred on Test debut, and only the second to achieve the feat on foreign soil. * Vincent was chosen to represent the ICL World XI team during the 2008 ICL season.

Ban for match fixing

Lou Vincent was banned from cricket for life on 1 July 2014 by the

for match fixing, after he admitted 18 breaches of the regulations including fixing the outcome of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

's match against

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in 2011, along with Naved Arif, who received a life ban one month before him. Vincent released a statement on the day he received the life ban, admitting his involvement in match fixing. On 8 December 2023, after an appeal, his lifetime ban from domestic cricket was lifted, although it remains in place for international cricket. This allowed him to return to playing and coaching in domestic cricket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Lou 1978 births Living people Auckland cricketers Lancashire cricketers Worcestershire cricketers New Zealand expatriate cricketers in England Suffolk cricketers New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand Test cricketers Cricketers who made a century on Test debut New Zealand cricketers New Zealand Twenty20 International cricketers ICL World XI cricketers Chandigarh Lions cricketers People educated at Westlake Boys High School Sussex cricketers Khulna Tigers cricketers New Zealand expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh People from Warkworth, New Zealand Mid West Rhinos cricketers Cricketers banned for corruption North Island cricketers Match fixers Sportspeople banned for life Prospect cricketers Sports scandals in New Zealand Sportspeople involved in betting scandals People with mood disorders