Lewis turns his back on county game

13 April 2012

Chris Lewis could have been starring in Nasser Hussain's squad in Sri Lanka, helping England in their bid for a fourth successive Test series triumph.

Instead, the hugely talented but temperamentally flawed allrounder has quit county cricket. He has left Leicestershire and is to sign up with a West Indian side in the Notts Premier League.

Earlier this week, Lewis departed for Australia. A friend said: "I don't imagine he'll go there and not play some cricket."

Lewis, 33 later this month, had two years left on his contract at Grace Road and there was a mutual agreement between the parties to call it time. He missed much of last season, upsetting chief executive James Whitaker for failing to turn up for a match.

Leicestershire secretary Kevin Hill said: "With Chris's injury problems he ruled himself out to appear in four-day matches and it gave us little alternative."

Born in Georgetown, Guyana, Lewis's career started in 1987 with Leicestershire and it was dogged with controversy.

He bowled quick, struck the ball with great power and fielded as well as any player of his time.

He moved to Nottinghamshire in 1992 before joining Surrey four years later. He had a brief spell as captain when he rejoined Leicestershire.

Lewis played in 32 Tests, scoring 1,105 runs at an average of 23 and his 93 wickets cost 37 apiece. These figures were moderate for a man of such talent. And in his 53 one-day internationals his figures were even more modest.

He was disciplined by the then chairman of selectors Ray Illingworth for failing to turn up on time for a Test match, pleading that he had a tyre burst.

In the summer of 1998, he indirectly implicated three England players in the match-fixing affair. The English Cricket Board urged him to reveal the names, which he eventually did, but not in public. Police investigated but took no further action.

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