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Tony Lewis, the Glamorgan captain who later became President of M.C.C.
captained the last England tour to India which did not include the full
England Test side. Lewis, who as a schoolboy in Neath had been torn
between becoming a county cricketer and a classical violinist, had been
on the verge of Test selection for some years when he was chosen and it
is likely that he rather than Mike Denness would have become full-time
England captain after Illingworth had he not been struck down by a
serious back injury which forced him out of the game. He made 0 on his
Test debut in New Delhi, but in the second innings, with England on 76
for three in pursuit of 208 he made a polished 70 not out and saw his
side to victory.
He made 125 in the fourth Test in Bombay, driving
delightfully through the covers and hitting Bishen Bedi back over the
bowler's head. In the last Test in Bombay's Brabourne Stadium he opened
the batting but played the first ball from Abid Ali onto his stumps. In
Pakistan he made 74 in Lahore and 88 in Karachi. In his one home Test,
against New Zealand at Nottingham in 1973, he made only 2 in each
innings. Early in 1970 Lewis lead an M.C.C. team which included Geoff
Boycott and Geoff Arnold on a long tour of parts of Asia which at the
end of the 20th century were developing into major cricketing powers.
Against Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was then known, he scored 37 and 46 in
Colombo and also made 74 against Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
He made his
debut for Glamorgan in 1955 and was a Blue at Cambridge University in
1960, 1961 and 1962. (Bob Harragan)
He captained Glamorgan from 1967 to 1972, taking the county to its second championship in 1969, when Glamorgan went through the season undefeated.
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