In rugby football he made his first-class debut for Neath at the age of nineteen and followed up with a full season for Gloucester, as well as representing thereafter the Royal Air Force, Cambridge University and Pontypool.
Lewis made his first-class cricket debut in 1955 at the age of 17, playing for Glamorgan against Leicestershire in the County Championship[4] while still at Neath Grammar School.
In the light of his achievements, Lewis was picked as vice captain to Ray Illingworth, when the latter returned from his self-imposed hiatus the following summer.
Lewis was asked by the selectors to make himself available to lead the England team in the West Indies on the 1973–74 tour, but having had an injury-plagued season in 1973, he declined in order to take up opportunities in writing and broadcasting.
Lewis is one of two England cricket captains to come out of Neath Grammar School, the other being Cyril Walters when he was playing for Worcestershire.
Lewis and Allan Watkins are the only Glamorgan players who have scored a century in a Test match for England.
The MCC invested him with the highest honour it fell within its powers to give a member, that of Honorary Life Vice President, from the date of his retirement from Committees in 2011.
Lewis also played rugby union for Neath and Gloucester before winning a blue for Cambridge in The Varsity Match in 1959.
His broadcasting extended from Test Match Special to the anchor man of all of BBC television's coverage of cricket, from 1975 to 1999, and he was the initial presenter (10 years) of the popular Radio 4 magazine programme, Sport on Four.
He became, in 2011, the 31st Honorary Life Vice-President of MCC to be nominated by the Club, the highest honour possible to award to a Member.
Lewis turned his high profile in cricket and broadcasting to the benefit of his home country's tourist board.
He chaired and led MCC's work to erect an iconic media centre in 1998 which won high architectural awards.
In 2011 the MCC committee bestowed on him its highest possible recognition for his contributions by making him the 31st Honorary Life Vice-President nominated by members of the Club.
From 2003, Lewis was a consultant to University College of Wales, Newport, and, having returned to live in Porthcawl in 2010 accepted the offices of Captain, Royal Porthcawl Golf Club and President, Wales, of the Lord's Taverners charity, both organisations among his lifetime allegiances which he still continues.
In 1962 he married Joan Pritchard, who had attended Neath Grammar School for Girls and the Laban Art of Movement Studio in Addlestone, Surrey.