da apostebet： Almost two years after he gave up a New Zealand Cricket contract to join the ICL, Lou Vincent has returned to the country and revealed his desire to return to the national side
da leao： Cricinfo staff20-Dec-2009Almost two years after he gave up a New Zealand Cricket contract to join the ICL, Lou Vincent has returned to the country and revealed his desire to return to the national side.Vincent, 31, has been living mainly in Britain since moving on from the unofficial ICL and could also potentially qualify to play for England in less than two years. However, given the comebacks Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey made after they were granted amnesty on quitting the ICL, Vincent has reason to be optimistic about a New Zealand call-up.”I’m still classified as an overseas player there [in England] until I get my residency and passport,” Vincent told the . “That means I could play as a local on the county scene. That’s an option but I’m going to test myself in New Zealand first.Vincent played for an Auckland club side Takapuna on Saturday and hoped to join the Auckland squad next week. His first assignment for Auckland will be the one-day competition, before the domestic Twenty20 tournament in the following month.”Cricket’s been back on my mind in recent months. I want to get back to the top level. It’s time to give it one more crack. I wanted to come back and play rather than have a holiday. I can’t guarantee a place with Auckland this summer but I’m going to be training every day to prove my worth.”Former Auckland and New Zealand assistant coach Mark O’Donnell said the province was lucky to have Vincent on board. “Auckland’s fallen on its feet with Lou turning up,” O’Donell said. “He can definitely play. Provided he’s motivated, he’s a huge asset; a pleasure to coach.”However, things have not been smooth for Vincent. He admitted to “massive setbacks in life to grow up” and is currently dealing with depression, which he monitors through medication.”It’s going to be an ongoing battle. It was up and down for me, having just fought the demons of playing in New Zealand. I came straight into a new environment [the ICL] but didn’t have the hunger for cricket and my performances were poor.”I then signed for Lancashire, which went well. [Former Australian batsman] Stuart Law got me involved on a short term contract which ended up being until the end of the season. I got a hundred in a Twenty20, which gave me a lot of confidence.”However, Vincent scored just 272 runs at 24.72 in 12 first-class innings for Lancashire and was released.”The second season of ICL went even worse for me,” says Vincent. “That’s when I decided to get away from professional cricket and concentrate on my health and family.”However, with 1332 runs in 23 Tests at 34.15, and 2413 runs in over a 100 ODIs at 27.11, Vincent has the backing of NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan as well. “I wouldn’t have an issue with him playing for New Zealand again at all,” Vaughan told the . “I think he will have to prove himself and prove that he’s good enough. In terms of the ICL, we’ve let bygones be bygones. We are looking ahead not back and if Lou can prove himself and is committed and really wants to play for his country, then we should be looking at him.”
