London, July 1 :

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Tuesday announced that former New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent has been banned from cricket for life after he admitted breaching the ECB's anti-corruption regulations.

Vincent pleaded guilty to a total of 18 breaches of the regulations. Four breaches related to a Twenty20 match between Lancashire and Durham in June 2008, the ECB said in a statement.

Lou Vincent Lou Vincent

The remaining 14 charges related to two fixtures played at Hove in August 2011, namely a Sussex vs. Lancashire Twenty20 match and a Sussex vs. Kent CB40 match.

In accordance with the ECB Anti-Corruption Code, Vincent has accepted an agreed sanction of a life ban from all forms of cricket, in the form of concurrent life bans for each of the 11 offences which carried a life ban.

The terms of the ban, which required the approval of the ECB's independent Cricket Discipline Commission, will prevent him from playing, coaching or participating in any form of cricket which is recognised or sanctioned by the ECB, the ICC or any other National Cricket Federation.

"This has been a complex case which has crossed different cricketing jurisdictions and required close collaboration and intelligence-sharing between both our own anti-corruption unit, other domestic boards and the ICC's ACSU," said ECB chief executive David Collier.

"We are extremely pleased that the matter has now been brought to a satisfactory conclusion and that an individual who repeatedly sought to involve others in corrupt activity for his own personal gain has accepted that his conduct warrants a lifetime ban from cricket," he said.

"It once again highlights our resolve to keep cricket clean and rid the game of the tiny minority who seek to undermine the sport's integrity," Collier added.

ICC BACKS BAN DECISION

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Tuesday supported the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) Governing Council decisions to ban New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent for life breaching their respective Anti-Corruption Codes.

In a statement, ICC chief executive David Richardson said: “The ICC endorses the decisions of the CLT20 and ECB to impose life bans on Lou Vincent.

“The ICC has a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and these life bans, together with the life ban recently imposed by the ECB on Naveed Arif, should send out a loud and clear message to all those who indulge in corrupt practices and think they can get away with it."

Richardson said that the ICC will do its best to ensure that those involved wi

“Whilst the strategy of the anti-corruption units remains focused on education, prevention and disruption of efforts to corrupt, in those small number of instances where suspicious activity is uncovered, no stone will be left unturned to bring those involved to justice. These unscrupulous corruptors and small group of greedy individuals should not be permitted to destroy the game for the overwhelming majority who play the game as they should, and the fans across the world," he said.

Richardson said the ICC noted the sentiments expressed in the statement of Vincent and commended him for having the courage to finally tell the truth and to co-operate with the investigations.

“I encourage all the players to note how engagement in this type of activity can destroy careers and lives," he said.

Richardson congratulated the anti-corruption units of the Cricket Australia (CA), Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI), England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and ICC for a successful prosecution.

“The Vincent admission and subsequent prosecutions only came about as a result of a difficult and painstaking multi-jurisdictional investigation involving excellent collaborative work between the anti-corruption units of CA, ECB, BCCI and the ICC,” concluded Richardson.

(IANS)