The Twelfth Man 2020

Mick Pope (L) with Chris Lewis 40 41 In what must be two firsts for the Socie- ty in all its rich history, we gathered de- spite increasingly stark warnings about a virus to hear from a former prisoner. Not quite sure that we should be meet- ing at all, and well spaced out in the room, 28 members (well down on what we might expect) gathered to hear Chris Lewis, the former England, Leicester- shire, Nottinghamshire and Surrey low- er-order batsman and fast bowler. And what a story. At the outset Chris told us not to hold back in what we wanted to ask him about his chequered career - he was here to give us honest answers. Af- ter serving half his 13-year jail sentence imposed in 2009 for drug smuggling Chris is now devoting his time working with the PCA combating drugs in sport and the wider community. We were given a detailed account of his life from humble roots in Guyana, to arriving as a ten-year old in England in 1978, interested only in cricket. He told us of the remarkable development of his career, having never had any teaching in the game until he met Mr Williams at his North London compre- hensive. Going on through Colts’ teams he was with Middlesex’s Under-25s at Lord’s when he was approached by Ken Higgs, who had been tipped off by Tim Boon, to go to Leicestershire. From here, his rise was almost meteoric, mak- ing a first-class debut in 1987, a Young England tour in 1988 alongside Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain, and an England ‘A’ tour in 1989/90. His first ball was against Gordon Greenidge, batting with Demond Haynes. His first wicket - Haynes c Russell b Lewis - was his most proud day ever. By 1992 he was at the zenith of his ca- reer, playing for England in the World Cup Final. But there were several ‘prat- falls’ along the way. Shaving his head in the West Indies and suffering sunstroke - ‘the prat without a hat’; turning up late for an Oval Test; and several others. All were described with disarming honesty and humility. Then came the real prob- lem - being approached by a ‘Mr Patel’ to help fix a match, his subsequent re- porting of the approach to the ECB and the subsequent handling of the inevita- ble media pressure all led to him leaving the game with over three years on his contract at Nottinghamshire. He was to return to play T20 for Sur- rey, after an approach by Mark Butcher but suddenly at the age of 40, he was out of playing cricket, penniless and with no prospects. He had known and done nothing other than cricket. ‘I had ballsed it up’, he said with honesty. And these were the seeds of his down- fall. In December 2008, in acute finan- cial distress, he agreed to import drugs into the UK on a trip to St Lucia. He was detected and arrested on arrival back at Gatwick and thereby ended up in jail until 2015. Questions to Chris were wide-ranging without being condemnatory and all were answered in an open manner. It was a sobering occasion and one to re- flect upon as the curtain came down on our winter season unexpectedly early. CHRIS LEWIS 16 March 2020 After wrestling with the dilemma over several days our Chair- man announced at the Chris Lewis meeting that the Presenta- tion Night would have to be postponed as it was clear that risks with social gatherings were increasing all the time. In fact, by the time the date itself came round the country was in lock-down in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Naturally the decision to postpone was not taken easily as it disappoints our youngsters, their parents and the coaching team that had worked so hard under Darren Crossland. It is our hope to re-instate the presentations in the not too distant future. JUNIOR PRESENTATION NIGHT 26 March 2020