Chris Lewis's journey from opening the bowling for England in the 1992 World Cup final to contemplating suicide and being convicted of drugs smuggling has him feeling as ambitious as when he was a teenager, he has told AFP.

The 51-year-old -- who represented England over 80 times in Tests and one-day internationals -- said it was fear over being penniless that drove him to smuggle GBP 140,000 (USD 183,000) of cocaine in cans of fruit into England from St Lucia in 2008.