‘Was Deeply in Depression…’: Former New Zealand batter speaks up on How he got Involved in Match-Fixing

Vincent speaks on getting involved in match-fixing

Former New Zealand batter Lou Vincent has opened up on how depression caused him to get sucked into the world of match-fixing when playing in the now extinct Indian Cricket League (ICL). Vincent felt that he was a part of a gang which will support him and provide him with emotional support which he needed at that time.

“So I didn’t have the mental package to be a professional sports player. So at 28 I was deeply in depression and then went to India, and was dragged, sucked into that fixing world. It was pretty easy to see how it happened,” Vincent told ‘The Telegraph’ in a candid conversation.

“I felt like I was part of a gang. It almost made me feel better, because I am thinking: ‘I am part of a match-fixing gang, I am with a group that’s going to have my back and nobody knows our little secret,’ he added.

“I think that’s how most bike gangs work with young kids. Yeah, they sort of groom young kids into ‘we’ll look after you but go drive that car through the shop and smash it up‘.” he concluded.

Vincent even revealed that he felt alone as he was growing in his teen years. He was low on his confidence level as he used to get low scores, and people often used to take advantage of this weakness.

“I literally raised myself from the age of 12, so I was always quite malleable to people around me. Because I wanted to be loved, you’re easily led astray,” he recalled.

“And, you know, that contributed massively towards my professional career of just wanting to be liked, wanting to be loved, and sort of sharing how I was feeling on tour,” he added.

Though Vincent did not get any sort of direct threat from the other people who were involved in the allegations of match-fixing, he was still aware of the dangers that lurked for him.

“When you’re in that world, it’s hard to get out. There’s always a very underlying threat of ‘we know you, we know your kids’. You know, there’s never a direct threat. But they make it very clear that they’re involved with some pretty heavy underground gangs. And, ‘you owe us, and you always will owe us’. Even if you’ve completed the fixing, they own you. It’s hard to get out, and the only way to get out was literally the way I did (confess),” said the 46-year-old.

Vincent shared his thanks to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), as they helped him coming in terms with his past. ECB has handed 11 life bans for match-fixing. The board has allowed him to play a role in domestic cricket last year.

“Coming clean and approaching the players’ association and telling them what was happening, ‘where do we go from here?’, was the start of turning it around. The ECB were great to deal with. It’s taken a good decade but you can’t rush healing. It is still a daily check sometimes. But those moments of going down are very short now instead of it being hours or days or weeks,” he said.

Vincent made his Test debut in 2001, and scored a century against Australia in Perth. He has scores 1,332 runs from 23 Test matches. In 102 ODIs, he has scored 2,413 runs. He has also played 9 T20Is and scored 174 runs.