Clairmonte Christopher Lewis (born 14 February 1968) is an English former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, who played for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

in the 1990s. He played in 32 Test matches and 53

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s (ODIs) for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

between 1990 and 1998. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (known as the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992 for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth Cricket World Cup, the premier One Day International cricket tournament for men's national teams, organised by the International Cric ...

. Lewis was regarded as an aggressive lower-order

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, fine fast-medium bowler and an able all-round fielder. He was regarded as a colourful player of the game, who never quite lived up to his early potential. He was later convicted of drug smuggling.

International career

Lewis was drafted into the England squad to tour the West Indies in 1990 when Ricardo Ellcock pulled out through injury, making his

one-day international One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

debut during the tour. He made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut the following summer against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. He pulled out of England's disappointing tour of Australia the following winter after only one Test, but made an instant impact on his return to the Test team against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

in 1991, taking 6 for 111 (which remained his best Test bowling figures) and scoring 65 (his first Test half-century) batting at no.10. That winter he helped England to a series victory in New Zealand, scoring 70 in the first Test, and taking 5 for 31 in the second. He then helped England to the final of

, highlights coming when he won the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

awards in wins against the West Indies (where his wickets included

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...

), and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, where he took his best

bowling, 4 for 30. Only player of the tournament Martin Crowe won more

awards in the tournament. However, England lost the final, Lewis being dismissed first-ball by

Wasim Akram Wasim Akram (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, Coach (sport), coach, and former cricketer and captain (cricket), captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is regarded as one of the ...

. His first Test century, in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

on the occasion of his 25th birthday, on England's 1993 tour of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, gave hope for a bright international future. However England lost all their four Tests that winter, Lewis was dropped after the

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

test against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1993, and this remained his only Test century. Lewis was labelled "The Prat without a Hat" by ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'', after he was forced to pull out of the first match of England's tour of the West Indies in 1994 with sunstroke after enlisting

Devon Malcolm Devon Eugene Malcolm (born 22 February 1963) is a Jamaican-born English former cricketer. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Malcolm played in 40 Test matches and 10 One Day Internationals for the England cricket team. Malcolm was one of the fastest ...

's help to shave his head to raise money for

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

, and then not wearing any protection. According to Martin Williamson, this ''Sun'' headline "came to haunt Lewis for the remainder of his career". Nonetheless, uniquely among England's bowlers on the tour he did appear in all five matches in the Test series against the

, taking seven wickets to bowl England to the brink of a winning position in the third Test at

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

before England's batsmen collapsed to a devastating spell from

Curtly Ambrose Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN (born 21 September 1963) is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at ...

. To Lewis fell the dubious honour of bowling when Lara broke

Garfield Sobers The Right Excellent Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, NH, AO, OCC (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a Barbadian born former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowle ...

' record for the highest individual Test score in the final Test of the series at

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

, although Lewis also made an unbeaten 75 as England drew the match. However, he was then dropped from the Test team, though continuing to appear in some one-day internationals and featuring in the England side which won the Hong Kong Sixes in 1994. He was recalled to the Test side as an injury replacement the following winter during the 1994-95 Ashes, taking 4 for 24 as England won an unexpected victory in the fourth Test at

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, but after the next Test was dropped again. He was recalled for the

test in 1996, taking his third Test

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Takin ...

as England beat India, but was dropped again at the end of the summer, and thereafter only played two more one-day internationals. His international career ended in 1998. In the run-up to the 1999 Cricket World Cup, England national coach David Lloyd and captain

Alec Stewart Alec James Stewart (born 8 April 1963) is an English former cricketer, and former captain of the England cricket team, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman. He is the fifth-most- capped En ...

requested Lewis's inclusion in the team owing to his skill with the new ball, but were refused permission to choose him by the selectors, due to concerns about Lewis's behaviour.

Domestic career

Lewis had a nomadic county career, starting with

before moving to

. In 1996 he moved to

, and in 1998 returned to Leicestershire. Highlights included winning the 1997 Benson & Hedges Cup with Surrey, and winning the 1998 County Championship with Leicestershire. During the latter campaign, he captained Leicestershire in a number of their matches. Lewis always felt he was driven out of county cricket after alleging that three England teammates had taken bribes to throw matches (a charge that was never substantiated). In 2006, he captained Clifton Cricket Club, in the

Central Lancashire Cricket League The Central Lancashire Cricket League (CLCL) was a fifteen team cricket league, traditionally based in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was then based in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. The league ran competitions at First T ...

, where he opened the batting and the bowling. In his spare time, he also coached children in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. He played four games for Stockton in the Newcastle District Cricket Association in 2007/08. In 2008, Lewis re-signed for

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

matches for Surrey, in light of his bowling experience. However, his comeback was short and unsuccessful. He played one

Friends Provident Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class cricket, first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scott ...

game, in which he conceded 51 runs in six overs, and one Twenty20 match. He took no wickets in either.

Post-Retirement Life

Following his retirement, Lewis worked as a cricket coach, and also worked for the local council in Nottinghamshire. On 8 December 2008, Lewis was arrested at

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

on suspicion of smuggling 3.37 kilograms of liquid

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

, with a street value of about £140,000, into the United Kingdom on a flight from

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

. Lewis claimed that he was returning from holiday in St Lucia and that the drugs had been planted in his luggage by a third party. After a trial at Croydon Crown Court, on 20 May 2009 Lewis and his accomplice, basketball player Chad Kirnon, were found guilty and sentenced to 13 years in prison. He was released in June 2015 after serving six years of his sentence at HMP High Down. Following his release, Lewis worked with the PCA, teaching players to plan for the future. He released a biography about his experiences (''Crazy: My Road to Redemption''), and was also the subject of a play (''The Long Walk Back'') about his time in prison. Lewis also works as a motivational speaker.

References

External links

Cricinfo The one that got away
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Chris 1968 births Living people England Test cricketers English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 20th-century English sportsmen England One Day International cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Surrey cricketers British drug traffickers Guyanese emigrants to England Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Black British sportsmen British prisoners and detainees Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup