User:Sam Korn/Alec Stewart
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 England (Eng) |
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 |
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| Batting style | Right-handed batsman (RHB) | |
| Bowling type | Medium | |
| Tests | ODIs | |
| Matches | 133 | 170 |
| Runs scored | 8463 | 4677 |
| Batting average | 39.54 | 31.60 |
| 100s/50s | 15/45 | 4/28 |
| Top score | 190 | 116 |
| Overs bowled | 3.2 | 0 |
| Wickets | 0 | 0 |
| Bowling average | - | - |
| 5 wickets in innings | 0 | 0 |
| 10 wickets in match | 0 | N/A |
| Best Bowling | 0/13 | - |
| Catches/Stumpings | 263/14 | 159/15 |
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As of 8 September 2003 |
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Alec James Stewart OBE (born April 8, 1963, in Merton, Surrey) is a former English cricketer and captain of the England national cricket team, as well as of Surrey County Cricket Club. He was a right-handed batsman and also, for parts of his career, a wicket-keeper. The son of a former England player, Micky Stewart, Stewart holds the record for the greatest number of Testappearances by an Englishman, with 133 matches to his name.
Stewart made his Test debut for the England national side in February 1990, against the West Indies at Sabina Park in Jamaica.
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[edit] Early life
Stewart was born in April 1963 in Merton, Surrey. His father was Micky Stewart, eight times-capped in the England cricket team and captain for ten years of Surrey County Cricket Club. As a boy, Alec, with his brother Neil, was very keen on sport, both football and cricket, receiving coaching from his father in both sports (Micky Stewart had played top-level football for Charlton Athletic F.C.).
Stewart initially focused on football, playing for Sunday side Clarions F.C. and later Mitcham Royals, which is used by Chelsea F.C. and the then Wimbledon F.C. as a source of talent. He was, however, set back at the age of fifteen, when he was told by his coach that he was not likely to succeed as a footballer. Despite Stewart's belief that he had the necessary talent at football, he progressed no further. He would play cricket for the next twenty-five years.
In his first innings for a proper team – a Cub Scout side – at the age of seven, he scored 41 not out, winning the match for his team and the "man of the match" award for himself. He played for a club side, Malden Wanderers, first appearing in the club's third eleven the age of eleven, playing with and against adults. He also played for his school, Tiffin School in Kingston, Surrey. He scored his first century for the school at the age of twelve. That summer, in 1975, Stewart had an average of 44 runs for each time he was out, playing against boys up to seven years older than him.
It was at that time that Stewart began keeping wicket. He was encouraged to do so by his father, who believed that an extra skill would stand him in good stead for a future career. He played in this position for South of England age group sides, and was only displaced from the full England Schools side by Jack Russell, a future competitor for a place in the England national side. Stewart played in various other age group teams for Surrey and the South of England, although he never appeared for a full England side until his Test match debut at the age of 27.
[edit] Time at Surrey
Stewart had played throughout his youth cricket for Surrey sides, and now was in line to receive a professional contract with the county club. He signed this contract in 1980, at the age of seventeen, to appear in the summers of 1981 and 1982. He had actually made his debut for in the Second Eleven championship in the summer of 1979, playing for Sussex, keeping wicket well against Hampshire. This perfomance removed the major obstacle to his chance of signing that contract with Surrey – the fact that his father was the cricket manager at Surrey, and wanted to be sure that he avoided allegations of nepotism. To this end, the younger Stewart was always sure to refer to his father as "manager" or its contraction "ger" when in a professional situation.
Stewart made his debut for the Surrey first team in August 1981, hitting the winning runs against Gloucestershire in a one-day match on his first appearance, although he only scored eight not out in that innings. He batted low in the batting order in the first class match that went on on the days following, although he did keep wicket. In both innings, he was dismissed by David Graveney, who would later be chairman of the England selection panel during Stewart's time in the national side. He was in and out of the Surrey team for the following few seasons, only spending an extended period out of the first team when his jaw was broken by a ball bowled by the West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding.
In 1985, Stewart's first eleven place was formally recognised as being secure, as he received his county cap – a recognition that he was a central figure to the Surrey side. In that season, he scored over 1000 first-class runs for the first time, a statistic generally accepted to show a successful season for a batsman, at the age of twenty-two, still very young in cricketing terms. He scored over 1000 first-class runs in each of the following four seasons, including twelve centuries. His potential was recognised by England for the first time in 1987, when he was selected in the provisional squad of thirty for the Cricket World Cup in India that year. He was not selected for the final fifteen, at least in part due to his father's new position as manager of the England national side and the selectors' belief that this would make managing the squad difficult for his father.
[edit] Playing in Australia
During his early years playing for Surrey, Stewart played grade cricket (the Australian equivilent of club cricket, but better organised and of higher quality) in Perth, Western Australia, for the Midland-Guildford club. During that time, he played with and against past and future Test cricketers, such as Tom Moody, Tony Mann, Terry Alderman, and Bruce Reid: the Reid and Alderman, both fast bowlers, opened the bowling for Australia during that period. He received coaching and much match-practice during that time, and inherited the Australian resistance to "walking" (leaving the field voluntarily as a batsman when you know that you are out), which was to last throughout his career. During that time, Stewart even managed to keep Tim Zoehrer, then Australia's Test wicket-keeper, out of the Midland-Guildford side. Stewart contributed greatly to two consecutive wins in the grade competition for the club in the late 1980s, and, in his final season, scored in excess of 1000 runs in just fourteen innings.
[edit] Early England career
With his father still as national coach, Stewart was picked for the national squad for a one-day tournament in India and a Test series and one-day matches in the West Indies. In his debut match, against Sri Lanka at Delhi, he did not play as wicket-keeper and scored just four runs; however, he did make a run out in the very first over of the game. He played reasonably successfully for the next two games: scoring four not out against Australia (who included his old team-mate Tom Moody), and making thirty-one against Pakistan, although that game, a semi-final, was lost due to a century from Salim Malik.
Stewart would undergo a good deal of coaching before his Test debut in that West Indies series, most notably with Geoffrey Boycott, a former England captain and opener. Boycott worked with Stewart to improve his technique against the extremely fast bowlers that he would face in the West Indies. For that tour, the captaincy of the national side changed from David Gower to Graham Gooch. This change suited Stewart, because Gooch's style of leadership relied far more on fitness and preparation, rather than Gower's more relaxed, spontaneous style. Stewart would later write of Gooch:
- "At 36, ... he was the outstanding figure in the squad. Graham Gooch remains the cricketer I admire more than anyone else, for his achievements, his consistency, and the professional example he set his players. It was a privilege to play with him."
Stewart was selected to play in the first Test of the series, having had some success in warm-up games previously. The West Indian fast bowlers were the best in the world at that stage, so making his debut against them was always going to be a difficult prospect. It proved to be such, as Stewart was dismissed for thirteen, caught by the wicket-keeper off the bowling of Ian Bishop. He had, however, hit his first ball in Test cricket for four runs, and England went on to win the match by nine wickets (see result in cricket), with Stewart not out without scoring in the second innings.
In that series, in which Nasser Hussain also made his debut, Stewart averaged 24 in eight innings, as England lost the series 2-1, although one match was abandoned without a ball bowled and another was drawn, with the West Indies slowing the game down towards the end to prevent England's victory.
For the following summer, Stewart played just three Tests, against New Zealand, scoring his first half-century in Test cricket and averaging 29, as England won the three-match series 1-0. His fifty came at Lord's as he made his first appearance at the ground widely considered to be the "home of cricket". He also played two one day internationals during that summer of 1990, both also against New Zealand. However, due to an ankle injury and his position being filled by another player, he did not play again that season for England. For Surrey, however, he once again scored over 1000 runs in the season and averaged over 40.
[edit] A fixture in the side
Stewart was picked for the Ashes series against Australia that winter, partly because of his all-round ability as both a batsman and a wicket-keeper. Traditionally, an England side touring Australia plays its first tour match at Lilac Hill cricket ground, the home of Midland-Guildford, Stewart's grade side. He ended up playing in all five matches of that series, scoring 79 in the Second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground and 91 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He kept wicket in the last two games of that series, as Jack Russell was dropped to allow England to play an additional bowler. He averaged 22 in the series, with England losing the series 3-0.
The following summer, in 1991, he was initially dropped from the England side to play the West Indies as Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash, both young talents whose careers would not ultimately be as successful as Stewart's, came in. However, the first four Tests found England 2-1 down, and the selectors chose to pick Stewart and Ian Botham to attempt to bolster their batting side. England did win the match, drawing the series 2-2, although both Stewart and Botham played relatively minor parts in the victory. The summer concluded with Stewart's fourteenth Test, and his first score over 100. He scored 113 and 43 at Lord's as England beat Sri Lanka by 137 runs in the only Test in the series. That match was followed by a tour to New Zealand, where Stewart hit two more Test centuries, averaging 66, as England won the three-match series 2-0. He was the vice-captain for that tour, and would hold that post until his accession to the national captaincy seven years later.
A World Cup campaign followed, where England finished runners-up. Stewart played in every match, as England won every game bar one until the final, when they were beaten due to a wonderful performance by Pakistan's Wasim Akram, with both bat and ball. Stewart averaged 37 in the tournament, scoring two fifties.
Pakistan were also the opponents later that year, 1992, when Stewart made another century. His score of 190 in that match was the highest of his entire career. England lost the series, however, with Pakistan's 2-1 victory mainly due to the excellent fast bowling of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. The series was marred by allegations of ball-tampering against the Pakistanis. This is covered in more depth below in Captaining Surrey and ball-tampering. It was also that summer against Pakistan that Stewart made his first one-day international century, a score of 103 at The Oval.
[edit] Success in the West Indies
[edit] Captaining Surrey and ball-tampering
[edit] World Cup failure
[edit] Captaining England
[edit] The twilight years
[edit] Into retirement
[edit] References
| Preceded by: Mike Atherton |
English national cricket captain 1998-1999 |
Followed by: Nasser Hussain |
