OFTEN regarded as an unfulfilled talent at England level Chris Lewis was sent to prison for smuggling cocaine following his retirement.

Now aged 51, the former Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire fast-medium bowler and lower-order batsman will be talking to the Herefordshire Cricket Society on Thursday, January 23, at Hereford Rowing Club at 7.30pm.

The Guyana born player hit 7,406 first class runs in 189 matches.

Lewis played 32 test matches for England scoring 1,105 runs in the process.

He drifted out of the game in 1999 when it emerged that he had passed on the names of three England cricketers allegedly involved in match-fixing to the ECB, which was never substantiated.

In May 2009 he was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found guilty of smuggling 3.37 kilograms of liquid cocaine, with a street value of about £140,000 in the country, serving six years in prison.

Lewis now spends a lot of time, working for the Players Cricket Association combating drugs both in sport and the wider community.