It is the third time Lewis, a professional cricket photographer for Getty Images since 2003, has won the award. No one else has won it more than once since the competition began in 2010.
“During the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup, there was a moment when the DJ at the ground asked spectators to turn on their phone torches,” said Lewis, who also won in 2014 and 2022.
“I noticed Harmanpreet was calling for the ball and thought it would be fun to give the illusion there were more cricket balls than the actual one – a play on ‘spot the ball’.”
India defeated South Africa by 52 runs in the final at Navi Mumbai on November 2 last year to claim their maiden senior women’s global title.
Patrick Eagar, the acclaimed cricket photographer who was on the expert panel of judges, said: “Modern camera technology has ensured that almost every action photo which was submitted was perfectly in focus, adequately exposed (however poor the lighting) and, quite often, a bit dull.
“This year’s winner qualifies on the first two points, but has that extra element – humour! It’s a contemporary photograph from a contemporary game – a floodlit match with a white ball – and it just makes you smile. It’s a bit of a puzzle too.”
The 2025 competition was divided into three categories: men’s professional cricket, women’s professional cricket and recreational cricket with the overall winner selected from the three categories. Lewis’s image also won the women’s professional cricket award.
Andrew Boyers won the men’s professional award for his photo of Pat Cummins taking an instinctive return catch to dismiss Marco Jansen in the World Test Championship final. Jed Leicester won the recreational category for his shot of the girls of Overstone Park Under-13s celebrating at Lord’s despite having lost to Bexley in the final of the ECB Junior National Championship.
The winning entries feature in the 2026 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack – published on April 16.
