A former England cricketer was remanded in custody yesterday after cocaine with a street value of £200,000 was found hidden in luggage at Gatwick airport.

Chris Lewis, 40, a fast bowler once tipped as a successor to Ian Botham, was arrested after almost 4kg (8.8lb) of the drug was said to have been found concealed in fruit tins. It was discovered by UK Border Agency staff during a routine check after a flight from St Lucia arrived at 6am on Monday.

Mr Lewis, who played 32 Tests and 53 one-day internationals in the 1990s, and Chad Kirnon, 26, a basketball player, were arrested after arriving on the flight together and were questioned by customs officials.

They were charged with attempting to smuggle cocaine and made a brief appearance at Crawley Magistrates’ Court in West Sussex yesterday, where Mr Lewis had a bail application refused.

Mr Lewis, of Brent, North London, and Mr Kirnon, of Islington, North London, were remanded in custody to appear via video link at Haywards Heath Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday next week.

Mr Lewis, who was born in Guyana, took 93 wickets during his England Test career and finished with a Test batting average of 23.

With his quick, loose-limbed bowling action and combative batting style, he was an all-rounder hailed as the new Botham after scoring a half-century and taking six wickets in an early Test against the West Indies, who were then a power in world cricket, in 1991. But as his career went on Mr Lewis became better known for incidents off the field than performances on it.

He was labelled “the Prat without a Hat” by a tabloid newspaper after sunstroke forced him off the field during an England tour of the West Indies in 1994. Mr Lewis had shaved his head before the match and had failed to protect himself with sun-cream.

He attracted further ridicule for posing in his underwear for a magazine – in the days before it was the norm for sports stars to strip off for calendar photoshoots and suchlike.

Mr Lewis began his career at Leicestershire and had spells at Nottinghamshire and Surrey, where he helped the county to win limited-overs competitions in 1996 and 1997. He retired from county cricket in 2000 because of a persistent hip injury.

This year he joined Surrey to play in 20-over matches but with little success. Although he impressed with his fitness his bowling was not what it once was – his first two-over spell against Middlesex going for 24.

Nicky Brown, the national leagues manager of England Basketball, said that Mr Kirnon was registered with the London Towers team in the 2005-06 season. The team play in the English Basketball League second division, a lower-level amateur division.

A spokesman for the Towers said that he had no recollection of Mr Kirnon playing for them.