Lou Vincent. AFP PHOTO / FILES / ADRIAN DENNIS

WELLINGTON – Disgraced former New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent said Tuesday he had received a life ban from cricket for match-fixing.

“My name is Lou Vincent and I am a cheat. I have abused my position as a professional sportsman on a number of occasions by choosing to accept money through fixing,” he said in a statement confirming the ban.

The punishment, which is expected to be formally announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board later Tuesday, stems from one-day matches that Vincent admitted he helped rig in English county cricket in 2011.

The 35-year-old has also given evidence to International Cricket Council anti-corruption investigators in which he says he was involved in fixing in five countries between 2008 and 2012.

Vincent said he had shamed his homeland and the game, prompting him to come clean to try to ease his conscience.

“Speaking out. Exposing the truth. Laying bare the things I have done wrong is the only way I can find to begin to put things right,” he said.

“The time has come for me to now face them like a man and accept the consequences.”

Vincent played in 23 Tests and 102 one-dayers for New Zealand before retiring from international cricket in 2007.

After that, he travelled the globe playing in numerous domestic leagues before retiring from playing early last year.