Lou Vincent says match-fixing charges proves he never made 'plea bargain'

Former New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent, who has been charged by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) with 14 match-fixing offences, has said that he never made a plea bargain as suggested by others.

The ECB charged Vincent with the offences relating to two matches he played for English county Sussex in August 2011-a Twenty20 game against Lancashire and a 40-over game against Kent.

According to Stuff.co.nz, Vincent confirmed that the charges had risen from the matters he had disclosed to the authorities and he made public last week, but had not made a plea bargain to get them removed.

The ECB statement said that Vincent would work through match fixing charges as required by the English governing body, adding that the fact of the charges, and more are likely to come, dispel any notions of a plea bargain having been done as others have wrongly suggested.

Charges over a 40-over game between Lancashire and Durham played in 2008, which Vincent also detailed as being corrupt to investigators, are still to come from the ECB.

Former England ODI international player Mal Loye has reportedly revealed that Vincent, who then played for Lancashire, had offered him money to under perform, but Loye had rejected it.

Meanwhile, Pakistani player, Naveed Arif, who was alleged to be Vincent's accomplice, has also been charged overnight by the ECB under its anti-corruption code and faces six charges for offenses relating to the Kent match.

If the players were found guilty, it would reportedly be the first proven case of the result on an English county game being fixed.