It’s 70 years since Micky Stewart made his first-class debut for Surrey. Now Alec has announced he will be stepping down as the club’s director of cricket at the end of the year. Much has happened in between times for father and son. Richard Spiller looks back
1954: Micky Stewart makes his first-class debut for Surrey against Gloucestershire at The Oval on July 14-16 in the County Championship. He scores 52 and six, also taking a catch, as the hosts win by 145 runs on their way to winning a third title in as many seasons. The 21-year-old makes his maiden century against Pakistan in the following match.
1955: Micky receives his county cap.
1957: Micky marries his fiancée Sheila, part of their honeymoon taking in Surrey’s match (as champions for the sixth year running) against The Rest at Scarborough. They win by seven wickets) and then head to Aberdeen for a two-day game against St John Hay’s XI at Mannofield Park. They win by innings and 27 runs, a game he recalled many years later for being “the coldest I’ve ever been on a cricket ground”. It comes after a season in which he sets a new world record by taking seven catches in an innings at Northampton. His 77 in a season falls just one short of another record. He is named as the Cricket Writers Club young player-of-the-year.
1958: Micky is named as one of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack’s five players, in recognition of his efforts the previous season.
1962: Micky makes his England Test debut at 29, against Pakistan at Lord’s in the second Test, hitting 39 and 34no in a nine-wicket victory. He is unable to claim a tour place on the following winter’s tour of Australia.
1963: Micky becomes captain of Surrey, in succession to Peter May, the first professional appointed by the county (although the differential between gentlemen and players had finally been abandoned the previous winter). His task is to rebuild Surrey now that the all-conquering team which won seven Championships in a row from 1952-58 are all but gone. In April, they celebrate the birth of second son Alec, following Neil and with Judy to come. Micky returns to the Test side for the series against West Indies and is picked as vice-captain to MJK Smith for the trip to India. Illness forces him home mid-tour, the last of his eight Tests.
1965: Micky leads Surrey to the final of the Gillette Cup but they suffer a 275-run hammering by Yorkshire at Lord’s.
1971: Surrey are county champions again, bowling bonus points in their final match of the season – against Hampshire at Southampton – leaving them level on points with Warwickshire but having claimed two more victories. The achievement is all the greater given the difficulty of bowling out teams on the bland pitches at The Oval.
1972: Having originally intended to retire the previous year, Micky steps down after a first-class career which has stretched to 530 matches, scoring 26,492 runs and taking 635 catches.
1979: Despite enjoying a successful career with Slazenger UK, Micky is persuaded back to become Surrey’s first cricket manager, taking a sizeable pay cut along the way. He inherits a team which finished 16th out of 17 the previous season, the club’s lowest ever Championship finish. Reinvigorated by his presence – and the signing of West Indian paceman Sylvester Clarke – they shoot up to third and reach the final of the Benson & Hedges Cup, losing to Essex at Lord’s.
1980: Surrey finish runners-up to Mike Brearley’s Middlesex in both the County Championship and Gillette Cup.
1981: A third final defeat, this time to Somerset in the Benson & Hedges Cup. Alec Stewart, in his first year on the professional staff, makes his first-class debut against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham in August. Deputising for wicketkeeper Jack Richards, he scores two and eight and takes three catches in an eight-wicket defeat. His List A debut comes on the same ground in the John Player League – shown on television – scoring eight not out in a three-wicket victory.
1982: Surrey win their first trophy since 1974, thrashing Warwickshire by nine wickets in the NatWest Trophy final at Lord’s.
1985: Alec receives his county cap, passing 1,000 Championship runs for the first time in his career.
1986: Micky appointed England manager for their tour of Australia, where they retain the Ashes courtesy of a 2-1 victory. He accepts the job permanently on his return. Alec just misses out on a tour place despite scoring 1,629 Championship runs.
1989: Alec is called up by England for the first time, reward for consistent performances over a number of seasons, making his one-day international debut against India in the MRF World Series in Delhi. England win by five wickets.
1990: Alec makes his Test debut, aged 26, in a remarkable Test in which England – thrashed 4-0 the previous summer by Australia – beat world champions West Indies by nine wickets, narrowly losing the series 2-1.
1991: Alec makes his maiden Test century, hitting 113no against Sri Lanka at Lord’s. He goes on to establish his place on the following winter’s tour of New Zealand, scoring two tons in three matches, and is vice-captain to Graham Gooch.
1992: England reach the final of the World Cup in Australia but, just as in India five years earlier, suffer a narrow defeat. Micky retires as manager at the end of the summer, moving into the position of the ECB’s director of coaching and excellence. He is awarded the OBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to cricket. Alec succeeds Ian Greig as captain of Surrey and is now a mainstay of the England side, his highest Test score coming when he makes 190 v Pakistan in the first Test at Edgbaston
1993: Alec captains England for the first time, taking over at short notice from Graham Gooch at Madras after the captain suffers food poisoning. The match is lost by an innings and 22 runs. He is also in charge when Sri Lanka beat England for the first time, by five wickets in Colombo. When Gooch resigns midway through another Ashes hammering, Mike Atherton is named captain. Alec is named among Wisden’s five cricketers of the year.
1994: Alec scores centuries in both innings of England’s 208-run victory over West Indies in Barbados, the first time in 59 years that the hosts have been beaten at Kensington Oval. The first comes on his 31st birthday.
1996: Surrey end a 14-year wait for honours when they win the Axa Equity & Law Sunday League in Alec’s final year as skipper, handing over to Adam Hollioake and becoming honorary club captain.
1997: Micky retires from the ECB and is named Surrey’s deputy president, taking office for a two-year term in 1998-99.
1998: Alec is appointed England Test captain and supervises a 2-1 victory over South Africa, their first success in a major series for 12 years. He is appointed MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to cricket and leads them on the following winter’s tour of Australia plus in the following summer’s World Cup.
1999: Surrey win the County Championship for the first time since 1971, much to the delight of president Micky and senior pro Alec, the first of three titles in four seasons.
2000: Alec scores a century in his 100th Test, a typically bristling 105 against West Indies at Old Trafford coming on the Queen Mother’s 100th birthday.
2002: Returning from a winter off, having undergone surgery on troublesome elbows. Alec becomes England’s most capped player, overtaking Gooch’s 118 appearances, against India at Lord’s.
2003: Alec retires from cricket at the end of the England v South Africa series, scoring 38 in his final Test innings to finish with 8.463 – corresponding exactly with his birth date. England win by nine wickets to draw the series and he is carried on the shoulders of his team-mates around The Oval. He is awarded the OBE for services to cricket. In 447 first-class matches he has scored 26,165 runs, taking 721 catches and making 32 stumpings.
2006: Surrey unveil the Alec Stewart Gate at the Vauxhall end of the ground and the Micky Stewart Surrey Clubs Room in the pavilion.
2011: Having been involved in commercial and media activities, part-time coaching and ambassadorial work since retirement, Alec joins Surrey’s board as executive director.
2013: Alec takes over as Surrey’s acting director of cricket after Chris Adams is sacked. He is unable to prevent them being relegated from the County Championship – for the third time in eight years – but they reach the final of the T20 Blast before losing to Northants. He becomes full-time DoC in November and sets an agenda for restoring Surrey to being among the elite counties in England and producing players for England.
2015: Surrey are promoted to Division One of the Championship but lose the final of the Royal London Cup to Gloucestershire by six runs at Lord’s. Defeats at the same stage by Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire follow over the next two seasons.
2017: The pavilion at the Kia Oval is renamed the Micky Stewart Members Pavilion to honour his long service and contribution to the club.
2018: Surrey win the County Championship for the first time since 2002, featuring many home-produced players, several having benefited from the development of excellence scheme – overseen by Micky through funding from the Bernard & Joyce Coleman Charitable Trust with the coaching led by Neil. The Stewart family receive the Peter Smith Award from the Cricket Writers Club for their contribution to the game.
2022: The Championship is won again, wrapped up by a 10-wicket victory over Yorkshire in a match where Surrey’s home is temporarily renamed the Micky Stewart Oval to celebrate his 90th birthday.
2023: Surrey retain the County Championship title. Alec’s younger sister – Judy, launches the Surrey Sixth Form programme. The programme offers young state-educated students access to high-quality cricket coaching, strength and conditioning training and work experience opportunities while completing their sixth-form academic studies.
2024: Alec announces he will step down as director of cricket at the end of the year but will always be available to help the club.
