ECB announces life ban for Vincent

London, July 1 (IANS) 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.

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.