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CHRI S LEWI S :
CLASS AND CONTROVERSY
Although he went on to play Test cricket for the
country that became his home, Chris Lewis was born in
Guyana and played his early cricket there outside
school hours. Moving to England at the age of 10, he
was taught how to bowl properly and his skills
developed rapidly.
A superb athlete, he entered county cricket with
Leicestershire as a pacy right-arm bowler and an
aggressive lower-order batsman.
His county debut came in 1987 and by 1990 he’d earned
a place on England’s tour of the Caribbean but had to
wait until July of that year before making his Test
debut, against New Zealand.
Lewis joined Nottinghamshire for the start of the 1992
season, the first of three years in which he played for
Notts. During that time he played in 37 first class
fixtures for the Trent Bridge side, as well as continuing
to appear in international cricket.
He twice scored double hundreds for Notts, against
Durham in 1993 and Warwickshire a year later. The
former innings was at Chester-le-Street and included a
stand of 301 for the seventh wicket with Bruce French,
a county record.
Lewis played his final match for Notts in September
1994 but his career then became shrouded in
controversy. He joined Surrey and later Leicestershire
again, and appeared in a total of 32 Test matches for
England but his career ended prematurely amidst his
unsubstantiated claims that match-fixing was prevalent
in the game.
In May 2009 Lewis was sentenced to 13 years in prison
after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into
the country.
HI S COUNTY DEBUT CAME IN
1987 AND BY 1990 HE ’D
EARNED A PLACE ON
ENGLAND’ S TOUR OF THE
CARIBBEAN
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MICK NEWELL
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Ca l ypso Kings : Chr i s Lewi s