Wellington - The head of the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association says the life ban imposed on former test batsman Lou Vincent for match-fixing might deter other players from admitting similar activities.
The England and Wales Cricket Board last week slapped Vincent with 11 life bans, to be served concurrently, after he admitted taking money to manipulate limited-overs matches in the English county competition.
The ban means the 35-year-old Vincent, who played 23 tests and more than 100 One-Day Internationals for New Zealand, can't have any future involvement in cricket or even enter a stadium while a match is in progress.
NZCPA chief executive Heath Mills said that while Vincent's behaviour was “unacceptable,” the severity of the sanction might deter others from admitting their wrong-doing or providing information on match-fixing activities to anti-corruption officials.
“What Lou Vincent has done is unacceptable and it required a heavy sanction,” Mills said. “However, the bigger goal here has to be the fight against corruption in our sport. The anti-corruption officers have few tools in this fight and their most important tool is information from players.
“So by not giving people credit for coming forward and providing information, you are effectively putting up a significant barrier for anyone coming forward in the future.”
Vincent pleaded guilty to 18 match-fixing or spot-fixing charges involving matches he played for English counties Lancashire in 2008 and Durham in 2011. Eleven of the 18 offences carried life bans.
He had previously been banned for three years by Bangladesh for not reporting an approach to fix matches while playing in that country's Twenty20 league. - Sapa-AP