Former England all-rounder Chris Lewis drops match-fixing hint, reveals he was approached by Indian bookies

Remember Chris Lewis? The England all-rounder, who was one of the two victims (the other being Allan Lamb) of Wasim Akram’s epic over in the 1992 World Cup final. The man who ‘retired in a huff’ accusing his teammates of match-fixing. The man who was caught in 2008 trying to smuggle in liquid cocaine into England and sentenced to jail. [caption id=“attachment_4002355” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Chris Lewis. AFP[/caption] But it is not that Lewis is known only for all things wrong. He was a very handy all-rounder for England in his time, scoring over 1,000 runs and claiming nearly 100 wickets in 32 Tests. His century in Chennai during the 1993 tour of India is testimony to his calibre. But without guidance and without a plan to put the money he was earning to good use, Lewis lost his way. And now, he has come up with another revelation. In an interview to Pune Mirror, the former England all-rounder alleged that he was approached by Indian ‘bookies’. Lewis, however, seemed defensive and was not willing to court another controversy. Hence, he did not part with a lot of information beyond alluding to an Indian connection to the match-fixing mess that he found himself two decades ago. “There is an Indian link, yes. People who spoke to me were Indians. We are now 20 years into that episode. The authorities have done the investigation and have taken action whatever was needed. I am certainly not in a place where I want to open things unless it on an official basis,” he said. Asked to identify the ‘bookie’ he had talked to, Lewis said that he had named the person over time. “Obviously things are hazy now but at the time the person named was under investigation. How it came out was I was making the accusation. But I was bound by the code and I had to report (to the board),” he said. Lewis was released from jail two years ago, having served six years of his 13-year sentence. Since then he had tried to get his life back on track, and educate the younger generation on the importance of making plans for retirement, and has also penned down his experiences in a book titled: Crazy, My Road to Redemption.