Among the crowd of 30,000 at Lord’s this week for the first Test between England and New Zealand will be a face many thought would never fit.
Lou Vincent recently flew in from Ibiza, where he spent a couple of months coaching schoolkids and captaining the island to victory in the Balearic Cup against Mallorca and Menorca.
His next stop is Nantwich CC, his old club in Cheshire, where he spent a couple of summers many years ago. He’ll work with the 2nd XI and the youth team, and earn a bit of cash by mowing a few lawns. Jilly, his Scottish wife, will employ her hairdressing skills.
‘That’s our motive at the moment,’ the 47-year-old, who played 134 times across formats for the Black Caps, tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘Just a real simple life, and some family time with our two young kids. Giving back to cricket in the UK is going to be my biggest warming moment after what had happened 14 or so years ago. That’s my priority.’
What happened has been documented in painful detail. In 2014, Vincent was banned for life by the ECB after admitting to 18 breaches of its anti-corruption code during three matches for Lancashire (in 2008) and Sussex (2011). He had also been involved in match-fixing in the short-lived Indian Cricket League, the Bangladesh Premier League and the T20 Champions League in South Africa.
At one point, in a vignette that sounds straight out of a spoof spy novel, he wore a fake wig and glasses while collecting a bag of ill-earned cash from a Birmingham launderette.
In 2014, Lou Vincent was banned for life by the ECB after admitting to 18 breaches of its anti-corruption code during three matches for Lancashire (in 2008) and Sussex (2011)
He had played 134 times for New Zealand, scoring three Test centuries and three in ODIs
He spent a season each with Worcestershire, Lancashire and Sussex in county cricket
The ban was lifted in December 2023, by which time Vincent had been to hell and back, before he decided that the only way to live his life was to confront what he had done – and to make amends.
Now, more than 18 years after he last played for New Zealand, he has become a spokesperson for anti-corruption, addressing a conference in Melbourne in December arranged by Victoria police, and ‘surviving the nightlife’ of Ibiza to pass on advice to the large community of cricket-loving ex-pats, plus one or two locals.
But perhaps the greatest indication that he has been re-embraced by cricket is his revelation that Sussex have invited him back to Hove this summer ‘to have a cup of tea and talk to the boys. To me, that’s huge'.
His transformation from pariah status to penitence reflects well both on cricket and on Vincent. A good enough batsman to make a century on Test debut against Australia at the WACA in November 2001 and a double hundred against Sri Lanka at Wellington in April 2005, he believes he has ‘done my time’, and says the ban was only lifted out of ‘respect for the work I’ve done behind the scenes’.
He adds: ‘The consequences of saying yes to being involved were devastating – not only from a reputational point of view, but it’s also a game that you’ve loved, that has given you opportunities, and there you are throwing it all away and making an absolute mess of it. By acknowledging my mistake and owning it, that’s probably why I’ve been welcomed back.’
The process was not straightforward, and it may never be. ‘Ultimately the scars are always there,’ he says. ‘I look at them every day, and I’ll be gutted for the rest of my life.
‘But it’s the lessons you can learn which can help the next generation. Just getting on with things, showing resilience and patience, getting through the tough times and getting the rewards at the end of the day – that’s a life experience I can pass on. If you get hit for four, who cares? Does it really matter?
‘It’s a real humbling way of using all the hard times I’ve been through to be in a position where I’m at peace with life, and I want to give back as much as I can. That’s my destiny now.’
Now, more than 18 years after he last played for New Zealand, he has become a spokesperson for anti-corruption
Playing for Auckland in his homeland in 2011
Hitting out against Pakistan during the 2007 T20 World Cup semi-final in Cape Town
Not everyone would have had the gumption to return to the game they betrayed. In the aftermath of his frank admission 12 years ago – ‘My name is Lou Vincent, and I am a cheat’ – he was heckled by a passing motorist in Auckland.
When he and Jilly relocated to Lumsden, a quiet spot on New Zealand’s South Island, he was told by neighbours over a New Year’s drink that the town didn’t want him. They began to push him out of the pub. By then, his first marriage had broken up, and he was estranged from his two oldest children.
‘What got me through ultimately was the man looking in the mirror, and saying: “You’re a f***wit. Now you’ve got to try to be a better man every day”.’
The fruits of his determination are clear when Vincent speaks with genuine enthusiasm about his time at Ibiza, following an invitation from star batsman Antonio Barca, a team-mate during a summer of club cricket in Rotterdam in 2000.
‘There was one guy who had spent time in prison 20 years ago, and had been rebuilding his life,’ says Vincent. ‘He didn’t have much confidence, but I told him: “You keep on with those left-arm hand grenades, mate, and I tell you you’re going to get us two for 20. Just believe in yourself".
‘Anyway, in the first Balearic Cup game, he finished with five for 40, and when you saw his celebrations, you knew what the day meant to him. That, to me, is what cricket is about.’
Like a proud father, Vincent later shares the video of the beaming bowler, who is holding a tankard and referring in awe to ‘one of the best days of my life’.
There is a hint in this approach of Brendon McCullum, and the two men overlapped briefly before the last of Vincent’s international appearances in December 2007.
When he and his wife Jilly relocated to Lumsden, a quiet spot on New Zealand’s South Island, he was told by neighbours over a New Year’s drink that the town didn’t want him
And his advice to any cricketer tempted down the path of corruption? ‘No matter what, it’s just not worth it’
‘He’s a winner,’ says Vincent. ‘I wish I’d played more under Baz, because I think I would have scored a lot more runs and been more accepted for my personality. I know he didn’t get the results he wanted in Australia, but he will get the best out of any player possible, and he’s the best thing for England at the moment.’
Not that he believes McCullum’s influence will necessarily translate into a series win this month.
‘New Zealand’s got its best chance in a long time to win a series over here,’ he says. ‘If they do, it’s going to be a war of attrition, if Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra and a couple of the boys can bat a day… it’s an experienced English team, but they’ve got a couple of new caps. And if the New Zealand bowlers can stay fit, I think our attack’s got the nod.’
And his advice to any cricketer tempted down the path of corruption? ‘No matter what, it’s just not worth it.’ Vincent may be speaking from bitter experience but, when he cheers along at Lord’s this week, you may also be able to hear the relief.
