FORMER Bradford League player Lou Vincent has been handed a life ban by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after admitting that he breached the ECB's anti-corruption regulations.

The 35-year-old New Zealand batsman, who played at Sussex in 2011 and was under investigation by the ECB, pleaded guilty to 18 breaches of the regulations in total, with four of those related to a Twenty20 match between Lancashire and Durham in June 2008.

The remaining 14 charges related to two matches played at Hove in August 2011, namely a Sussex v Lancashire T20 fixture and a Sussex v Kent CB40 game.

The ECB confirmed that Vincent, who played for Windhill and Esholt in the Bradford League, 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.

ICC chief executive David Richardson backed the decision and hopes the punishment sends out a strong message to those who choose to cheat.

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."