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| | Monday, 31 December, 2001, 00:37 GMT A 'great honour' for Lewis Tony Lewis (left) at the start of cricket's 1999 World Cup Former England and Glamorgan cricket captain Tony Lewis has spoken of his great surprise at being made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year's Honours list. The 63-year-old chairman of the successful Welsh Ryder Cup bid for 2010 said his award was a tribute to all the teams he had been part of during his life. Lewis enjoyed a sparkling cricketing career, leading Glamorgan to the County Championship in 1969, and becoming the first Welshman to skipper an England cricket tour - the MCC in India, Pakistan and Ceylon in 1972-73.
After a successful cricketing career, Lewis retired in 1974 to start a career in the media and became a prominent commentator. He was appointed president of the MCC in 1998 and later became chairman of the Wales Tourist Board before leading Celtic Manor's successful bid to stage the Ryder Cup. Swansea-born Lewis received his CBE for services to sport, broadcasting and Wales, and said it was a great honour for his whole family. "It was a lovely surprise and the family are basking in it, which is only right I suppose," he said. "I have never gone into things thinking about 'gongs' or whatever.
"I considered that to be a massive team game and I hope that made a contribution to the award." Despite forever being associated with cricket, Lewis' honour covers the whole of sport. He said: "It probably has something to do with being a founder member of the Sports Council for Wales in the 1960s - where I served for three years - and my early days in rugby. "It is an honour which is very well accepted, but often you depend on so many people. I have been very lucky." Pontypridd rugby club chief executive Cenydd Thomas has also been honoured - being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) - for services to the community. There were also MBEs for Llanelli's Stedman Davies (services to judo and martial arts), Porth's William Kingsbury (services to sport in the Rhondda Valley) and Swansea's Betty Gray (services to table tennis). | |
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