Lou Vincent receives special 100th ODI cap after 17 years

Former New Zealand batter Lou Vincent was presented with a special cap commemorating his 100th One Day International (ODI) match. The event, which took place in Auckland earlier this month, came almost 17 years after Vincent reached this significant milestone in his career. The 45-year-old featured in 23 Tests, 102 ODIs, and nine T20Is, scoring 1332, 2413, and 174 runs, respectively.

After an international career that spanned from 2001 to 2007, Vincent was involved in a match-fixing scandal that resulted in a life ban from cricket in 2014. However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) revised this punishment in December 2023, allowing Vincent to return to working in domestic cricket. 

The ceremony was an intimate affair, attended by Vincent's family and former teammates. Sir Richard Hadlee, the legendary New Zealand cricketer who had first selected Vincent for the national team, presented the cap. 

"It was a lovely way to be acknowledged for my cricketing career, and to be able to use the night as an avenue to say thank you very, very much to people who've been by my side through the great times and the tricky times. It was a really memorable, special night with some lovely words spoken," Vincent told The Post.

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The past is the past: Lou Vincent

Vincent is gearing up for the next phase of his life and doesn't want to think about what happened in the past. He acknowledged that the ECB recognized the work the cricketer had been doing for the past few years.

"The past is the past. It was powerful that I had such huge support for the application for the ban to be appealed and there was no opposition from the ECB, they fully respected the work I'd done behind the scenes over the last few years and using my experiences to help educate the next generation of players," the former added.

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New Zealand Cricket's chief executive, Scott Weenink, acknowledged Vincent's history with the sport. Weenink said that presenting him with the cap was the least the board could do.

"The reality is, you can't forget what he actually did and he would be the first to admit that, but he's done his penance and no one has done more to fight match-fixing than he has by being so open and telling everything that he knew. When the opportunity came, it was really the least we could do to present him with his cap," Weenink said.