CHRIS LEWIS TO SUPPORT PCA FOLLOWING RELEASE FROM PRISON Chris Lewis, the former England all-rounder, is committed to helping the Professional Cricketers’ Association to educate players into not making the mistakes that led to him being jailed for drugs smuggling. Lewis enjoyed a successful county career with Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Surrey and played in 32 Tests and 53 One Day Internationals in an England career that lasted eight years. But Lewis retired from county cricket in 2000 with no clear plan of what he would do after his playing days were over. Within a year of attempting a T20 comeback with Surrey in 2008 he had been jailed for 13 years after he was found guilty at Croydon Crown Court of smuggling liquid cocaine into England from St Lucia – which was hidden in fruit juice tins. Lewis has now been released from prison and is keen that other cricketers should learn from his traumatic experience. Lewis will speak to first year county professionals at next year’s PCA Rookie Camp and also join the PCA team on the Association’s programme of pre-season county visits. ” It’s actually nice to be back and by back I don’t mean being outside I mean back by being me. You would think that perhaps I would be apprehensive. I am excited,” said Lewis ahead of his release. ” Keep cricket fun. You learn more when you are having fun, you play better when you are having fun. The stuff that may take away your smile just isn’t as important as it seems now. ” Take the advice that is available now through the PCA. There have been enough people who have gone through this journey that there is decent advice for young cricketers to take care of their money, to take care of the things that they need to take care of themselves but most of all to have fun. You don’t know how far you can go. The world’s your oyster. ” The PCA have been extremely supportive right from the beginning of this situation let’s say. They have been extremely helpful and certainly, going ahead, I would like to become a part of that whether it’s giving advice or whether it’s just tugging on the grey matter to find out what happened at this particular time. If any of that can help any young player going ahead I am in. I am in 100 per cent.” Lewis worked for the local council in Nottingham and was also involved with coaching in Slough when he retired in 2000 but admitted he became afraid of what the future held and he ended up making poor decisions that led to him being jailed. ” You are playing cricket, perhaps even hoping to get back into the England team, and within the space of a few months it’s actually all over. There wasn’t a great deal of information around [then] for young players about what they should be doing or trying to do. Yes, you heard the stories about having to plan for your future because cricket doesn’t last forever but what does that mean? “At the time I thought that planning was taking out a pension or taking out a life insurance which are things that I actually did. Standing here now you know planning is a lot more and it takes a lot more time and effort. ” I left in a huff so the idea of missing cricket just didn’t happen. At the time I left I wanted to leave because it wasn’t a happy environment. I worked for the council in Nottingham, I did a bit of stuff with coaching in Slough. We had a bit of a cricket academy. You try different things to try to generate cash. You are not talking about the same level of cash as when you played. You are talking about a level of cash that, now you are living a normal life, to sort that out. Coming back to play T20 for Surrey, that didn’t work and at the same time the olds hips played up. “I had spent a bit of money. I had been away to Australia to train to try to get fit to come back to do the Twenty20 so money had been spent and nothing had been earned. I became afraid of what the future held and at that point the thinking actually went awry. I thought about things and made choices that I shouldn’t have made and that were the wrong choices and that, in the end. I should say sorry for because they were the wrong choices, and I do say sorry for.” Lewis admitted that being jailed came as a surprise and he has struggled to cope with the mental demands of prison life. ” I have had six years in jail. Until recently I would still wake up and look around and think: ‘wow, you are in jail’ because that wasn’t part of the plan. I never saw that coming. The thought of going to jail didn’t even occur to me because in most of my life I had never imagined doing anything that would actually get me in that situation. Spending all your life at liberty and all of a sudden you are not. Jail on a physical level generally speaking hasn’t been hard. Jail time for most is what you do with your mind. It is a really hard mental exercise to stop yourself from thinking negatively so it’s a constant mental battle trying to find positive cues on a daily basis because 24 hours a day you are a prisoner so essentially you are in your cell you are almost in a goldfish tank.” Jason Ratcliffe, assistant chief executive of the PCA, has remained in contact with Lewis throughout his time in prison and hopes that Lewis’s willingness to speak about his experiences will help current county players. ” Whilst we can’t ever condone the trouble Chris got himself into, it’s our duty to help our members wherever we can. Chris has always been a popular man and has paid the penalty for his crime,” Ratcliffe said. ” However, it’s time to move forward and his story will prove to be a strong message for all current and future professional cricketers. PCA/ECB have a robust personal development programme, (PDWP) which has been steadily developing since 2000 and therefore the opportunities to be fully prepared for life after cricket are multiple. “Chris and many others who played significant international cricket during their careers, didn’t have this type of support network while playing, and whilst this isn’t an excuse for his actions, would surely have helped alleviate the ‘fear’ he describes when it all came to an end. We’re glad that Chris will give his first hand experiences to complement the PDWP and ensure players are best prepared for cricket and life beyond.” {{chris-lewis}} {{ak_sharing}}
