Alec Stewart will retain his official role at Surrey into the new season after being appointed as the club’s new High-Performance Cricket Advisor from January 2025.
Stewart, 61, last week completed his 11-year stint as the club’s director of cricket, after overseeing their third County Championship triumph in consecutive seasons, and the fourth of a tenure that began in 2013.
He resigned from that full-time role for personal reasons, with his wife Lynn currently undergoing treatment for cancer – a situation that caused him to take a leave of absence in January 2023.
However, the club have chosen not to appoint a direct replacement, a move they had hinted at earlier in the year when mooting a management restructure to fill the void he was set to leave.
“You’ve got to understand this club,” Stewart said back in April, when the club’s thoughts first turned to succession planning. “That is a big thing: the expectation, the size of it, the perception of this place. Therefore, if you have been in and around this place… I think it gives you a real headstart, if you understand everything that is expected of Surrey and the Kia Oval.”
Now, under the new arrangement, Stewart will work at the club for a fixed number of days a year, charged with overseeing the continued success of the men’s elite game alongside the men’s head coach Gareth Batty and club captain Rory Burns.
“Everyone knows my love of the club and what it means to me and therefore I’m very pleased that the club wanted me to continue in this new role that has been created,” he said.
“With this new set-up, I firmly believe that we can continue the success at Surrey that we’ve seen in recent times. I look forward to continuing my working relationship with Gareth, Rory and the team.”
A total of 12 cricketers have made England debuts during Stewart’s tenure at the club, nine of whom have come through the club’s Talent Pathway, which is more than at any other county in the country. These include Ollie Pope, England’s Test captain in the recent series against Sri Lanka, as well as Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith, the two breakout stars of England’s 2024 summer.
Stewart’s role in nurturing these players has been widely credited, with Pope – whom he first encountered as an Under-9s player – saying at the start of the summer he “couldn’t imagine” life at the Kia Oval without him.
As a consequence, Stewart will continue to advise on the Surrey Talent Pathway, with the aim of maintaining the flow of talented cricketers who have the ability to represent the club across formats, and ultimately England.
“We completely understood and accepted Alec’s decision to step back from his Director of Cricket role at the start of the season but we always wanted to retain his expertise and his impact at Surrey,” Oli Slipper, Surrey’s chair, said. “We’ve had excellent conversations with Alec around a common ground that worked for him and for the club and I’m thrilled to say that we have found a role that works for all parties.”
Steve Elworthy, Surrey’s CEO, added: “Alec has played a pivotal role in the success of the club over many years, not just lifting trophies but the conveyor belt of talent that has progressed through the Talent Pathway. That he will continue to shape the men’s professional set up, albeit in a changed role, is brilliant for the club.
“We will not be replacing Alec but will be looking to individuals already at the club to take on new responsibilities. The foundations of the success of the elite group have been built by Alec and we are very pleased that we will retain his support in the future.”
His appointment means the Stewart family’s association with Surrey will extend into its eighth decade next season. Alec’s father Micky, after whom the pavilion at the Kia Oval is named, began his 18-year playing career at the club in 1954, before taking over as manager from 1979 to 1986.
Stewart himself played for the club between 1981 and 2003, and had the main gate at the Vauxhall End renamed in his honour in 2006, while his brother Neil is a longstanding coach in the club academy.
