LONDON, May 20 Former England fast bowler Chris Lewis was jailed for 13 years on Wednesday after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into Britain in his cricket bag.

A jury at Croydon Crown Court near London convicted Lewis of trying to bring more than 140,000 pounds ($215,000) worth of the drug into the country from St Lucia, packed in cans of fruit and vegetable juice. His co-accused Chad Kirnon was also found guilty and received the same sentence.

Lewis, 41, who played 32 Tests and 53 One-day Internationals in the 1990s, had claimed in his defence that he did not even know cocaine could be converted into the liquid form in which it was discovered in his luggage when he arrived at London's Gatwick Airport in December last year.

When asked if he realised he had drugs in his luggage, Lewis insisted “I thought I was carrying fruit juice.”

The court heard he had known Kirnon for two or three years but had lost touch before they bumped into each other just a month before flying to St Lucia.

Following their arrest, they had fallen out and Lewis claimed Kirnon was responsible for the four kilograms of cocaine found in his kit bag. Lewis claimed he suspected his co-defendant was involved in drugs when he was found to be carrying 7,000 pounds in cash on arrival on the Caribbean island. But the prosecution said Lewis had orchestrated the scheme with Kirnon.

Lewis admitted smoking marijuana “from time to time”, but said he had never touched cocaine.

Guyana-born Lewis took 93 wickets during his England Test career and 66 wickets in ODIs, at averages of 37.5 and 29.4 respectively. Tipped to become the new Ian Botham early in his career, he was widely regarded as having failed to realise his full potential. Lewis retired from county cricket in 2000 because of a persistent hip injury.—AFP