'It's up to me to make sure the story has a better ending' Chris Lewis

[rkt.india]

Quote

 

"There's an expression in the Caribbean," Chris Lewis says. "'The man that can't hear is destined to feel.'" He sighs. "I guess I had to learn things the hard way."

Lewis had heard all the warnings, of course. He knew examples of former players who had fallen on hard times. He must, on a level, have understood the need to plan and prepare for life after his playing career.

But it ended earlier than he thought it would - it nearly always does - and the benefit season he was relying upon was suddenly snatched away from him. Without savings, plans or many transferable skills, he found himself with a creaking body, a lifestyle to sustain, a family to support, and all revenue streams evaporated.

The result? He made a poor choice.

As he recounts in his book Crazy: My Road to Redemption, he accepted £50,000 (which he never received) to import cocaine from St Lucia into the UK. "This would give me the breathing space I needed," he writes. "All I could think of was the idea of having no money and not being able to see a way out. I remember my thought at the time: just once, maybe, to make a bit of money and give myself a little bit of breathing space."

He was subsequently apprehended at Gatwick airport. He pleaded innocent - "I just couldn't stand the thought of going to jail," he says now - but was found guilty and sentenced to 13 years. He served six and a half. On the first night he considered hanging himself with his bed sheets.

Now he is out, but on the brink of his own half-century and with what he refers to as "a skills deficit", his future remains uncertain. At the back of his mind is the thought that, for all his success on a cricket pitch, he may well be remembered, first and foremost, as a convicted drug smuggler.

"That's a fact," he says. "I am a shamed cricketer. There's no point me denying it. I'd hate that to be the way I'm remembered, but the fact is, unless I change that perception, it's the way it's going to be. I can't moan about it. It is the consequence of my actions. I have to reflect on my choices and take the responsibility for them.

"But it's not the end of the story. I have it in me to write the next few chapters and I have to make sure that I take everything bad and turn it into something good. It's up to me to make sure the story has a better ending."

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/20626839/to-make-sure-story-better-ending

[renjith]

Surprising to know he was in jail. I enjoyed watching him bowl. His action was very fluent.

[nevada]

I hope he doesn't do anything stupid hereafter. He is very, very lucky to be given a second chance despite all that has happened.