On this day in 2003: Alec Stewart retires from first-class cricket

Stewart scored 8463 Test runs for England.

Alec Stewart retired from first class cricket in 2003 (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA) (PA Archive)

England wicketkeeper/batter Alec Stewart retired from first-class cricket on this day in 2003.

The Surrey man brought an end to a career which saw him score 8463 runs in 133 Tests for England.

Stewart made his Test debut in 1990 against the West Indies and scored his highest score of 190 against Pakistan two years later.

He was overlooked for the captaincy in favour of Mike Atherton but when Atherton quit in 1998 he was given the role at the age 35.

Stewart bowed out on this day in 2003. (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Archive)

In his first series against South Africa he scored 164 in the third Test to save a draw but a 3-1 Ashes defeat in Australia and a disappointing 1999 World Cup, where the hosts failed to get out of the group, saw him sacked and replaced by Nasser Hussain.

He continued as a player for five more seasons and scored 105 on his 100th Test appearance against the West Indies at Old Trafford in 2000.

Against India at Lord’s in 2002 he became England’s most-capped Test cricketer at the time, overtaking Graham Gooch. He now sits fourth in the all-time list.

After retiring, Stewart has had several roles at Surrey, including a brief spell in charge of the first team after the departure of Chris Adams in 2013, before becoming director of cricket in 2014.