NICK FRIEND: In a wide-ranging reflection on his time at Surrey, as well as on the state of the domestic game, Stewart called for the County Championship and Sheffield Shield winners to face off and warned against a reduction in first-class matches
Alec Stewart has told Surrey that he will assist "in any way they want" with the search for his successor as director of cricket, also stating his preference for someone with an understanding of the county.
Stewart dropped the bombshell last week that his 11-year tenure would come to an end after the 2024 season at the club where he and his father both made their names.
He joked at Surrey's media day that on his final day he would drive out of the gate named after him and "take the sign as well".
Dan Worrall has described Stewart as "the godfather", while Gareth Batty called him "irreplaceable"; Ben Foakes admitted he would be "massively missed" and forecast his absence as "a massive blow", Ollie Pope simply said that he was "gutted" and "can't imagine" Surrey without the man he first encountered as an eight-year-old award winner.
"You've got to understand this club," said Stewart, speaking on the final pre-season press morning of his reign. "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.
"The Kia Oval is the home of Surrey, but it is also the conference and events business, which is flying, with the size of it and expectation of it. If you can deal with all that, then you've got a good chance, but it can eat you up if you don't understand it. It can eat you up pretty quick whether you are an administrator, employee, player or whatever it may be because of what historically the club has achieved."
There are similarities between Stewart's exit and Sir Alex Ferguson's departure from Manchester United, two men whose imprint on their clubs made them completely synonymous with the institution. In Ferguson's case, no one since has successfully grappled with the scale of the operation.
Surrey have told Stewart that they'd like him "to try and stay in some role", but he insists that whatever that looks like will depend on his successor's wishes "because that person may not want me hanging about, which I fully understand".
"Look, I'm never going to walk away completely, but they've got to get the person in place first."
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Alec Stewart is entering his final season as Surrey's director of cricket (Getty Images)
Where there is no doubt is in the shape that Stewart leaves this behemoth club behind. They say with any role that a job well done is an organisation left in a better place than it was found, and that could scarcely be truer in Surrey's sense.
It is easy to roll your eyes at Surrey's success, scoff at their financial advantages. Dan Lawrence, their closest challengers' best player, joins them for the last hurrah under Stewart – very much the Robin van Persie of the Ferguson regime. But it is also true that Stewart took on the role at Surrey's lowest ebb, both on and off the field, following tragedy and with the club in need of a cultural reset. At the same time, it is worth remembering that resource doesn't guarantee success, or else Surrey would be seeking more than just their third straight title.
"We've certainly made progress," says Stewart. "The word 'progress' is the word I've used from day one. We just want to get better each day, each season, each year. That's the players, but also as a group and we've probably done that.
"I think we've done that and are doing that. You also want to put your own mark on it as well. That's why, whoever comes in, they've got to assess what has worked, in their eyes, and then do they want to change it five per cent, 10 per cent, 100 per cent? That's up to that individual. But I'd like to think, whoever comes in will think it's in pretty good shape with strong foundations to take it forward again."
Those foundations, crucially for Stewart, have always been dripping in Surrey, who have lost three times in their last 27 County Championship games – and two of those once the title was already sewn up.
On average in 2023, 50 per cent of their lineups were made up of homegrown players, even when England relentlessly came calling across formats. In the title-winning game at Hampshire, Ryan Patel and Tom Lawes – both through the academy – were subbed out for returning England players in Will Jacks and Jamie Smith, both also as Surrey as they come.
"That is what our duty is," insists Stewart. "The three things I set myself when I came into the role, which would never change, were: one, to make us the best club or county in the country; two, to produce our own players through our pathway; and three, to produce players for England.
"And I'd like to think every county has those same values because that is what you're judged on. Yes, you want to win, 100 per cent. I want to win every trophy, but I get as much enjoyment seeing an Ollie Pope, Will Jacks or Jamie Smith come through our system as youngsters, come into our first team and then going to play for England because that, to me, counts as success.
"Yes, the trophy cabinet has the Championship in it at the minute, but if you have another cabinet, it'd be full of Surrey players that come through the pathway then get England caps."
Related: Ollie Pope sets Surrey bold target for Alec Stewart's final summer
Stewart is seeking a third straight County Championship title (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
It's for that reason that Stewart remains "a massive fan of county cricket".
"Because that is what produces England players," he says. "A lot of people say, 'You go off to franchise cricket and learn', but that will add to what has already been done at county level.
"Will county cricket be exactly the same as it is now in 10 years' time? I'd suggest not. But we've got to make sure that county cricket stays strong and very relevant."
How does that happen?
Part of it will depend on the shape of The Hundred, but Stewart is also in favour of an annual match between the winners of the Sheffield Shield and the winners of the County Championship, in the style of rugby league's World Club Challenge.
"It would be a good thing to do," he says, "to gauge where we are as a domestic competition, because I think it's the best. The Shield was, but I think this is now the best domestic competition going."
He believes that interest has grown in it, even if the wider narrative is of a franchise-first world. He argues, too, that "the necessity to win" has increased, a point he makes through the greater turnover now than in the past of coaching staff and directors of cricket. "It's almost got that football mentality of if you don’t win, we will move you on and bring someone else in."
He adds: "It's in a good position, but like all these things you want it to be better."
Amid the perennial debate around scheduling and the future of the Championship, Stewart is reticent to drop lower than 14 games, but he also isn't keen on a system where counties don't play one another home and away. "I don't like the fact you don't play everyone in a league, certainly in a Premier League or Division One; I just don't get that," he says.
"I hear people say you should play 10 because Sheffield Shield is 10, but you'll have two games that are rain-affected so are eight games enough? Of those eight games, the England boys might play two or three and therefore for some players they might only play five first-class games in a year.
"You are not going to learn enough in my opinion because you can net as much as you want but it's out there where you gain all your knowledge and all your experience. Therefore, I personally don't think that's enough. So, I want to stick to 14 or as close to 14 as possible."
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Stewart made it his aim at Surrey to produce players for England (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
As for The Hundred, Stewart has it eventually as a T20 competition. "If the Hundred is going to bring all the money in to finance the game for another 30, 40 or 50 years, then the T20 Blast might come down to 10 group games and five at home.
"You get your money that you miss out on the two home games, because the Hundred money supplements the two home games you're missing. Therefore, financially the counties aren't suffering, in fact they're gaining because of the Hundred. Therefore, it frees up another four days of the season for rest or training or whatever."
He is against the idea of a straight knockout for the 50-over tournament "because then you could only play one game" but he wonders whether it could return to April, its pre-Hundred berth.
"They are the things I certainly want looked at to find out what is right for the game, but what is right for the players as well because they're key. You don't want more and more players just saying they want to play white-ball cricket, the shortest format because I still believe red-ball cricket sets you up to play this version, not the other way round."
None of it's an easy ask, and he sympathises with those charged with putting together a labyrinthine calendar. But he points to the carnage awaiting the domestic game in September, when all three county titles are up for grabs, as an example of where things have gone wrong.
Stewart made clear his feelings towards that arrangement on the day that Surrey won the 2023 crown. A five-week break between the end of the T20 Blast group stage and the start of the quarter-finals, for example, "doesn't make sense".
"You are not going to have the same side that qualified available for the knockouts," he says, speaking with the experience of leading the club with the most moving parts, with a T20 World Cup and Major League Cricket to contend with in the middle of the summer. Nottinghamshire have lost Alex Hales for part of the Blast to the Lanka Premier League.
"England are playing T20 against Australia over the T20 finals weekend. All those types of things, you ask why it's happened. This year there's a T20 World Cup so I get it, there's a more condensed fixture list. But is there a better way, instead of calling it Super September, have a super T20 Blast and move onto the next thing."
Surrey haven't won the T20 Blast since 2003 (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
For many reasons, Surrey will be thrilled to have Stewart for this of all summers. They have already lost Aaron Hardie to a withdrawal by Cricket Australia, and both Nathan Lyon and Xavier Bartlett – with deals at Lancashire and Kent, respectively – have also either been curtailed or called off entirely. So, having a master director of cricket at their disposal feels particularly important in navigating this year's complexities.
"That World Cup period is going to be the toughest," says Stewart, who could lose Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Sam Curran, Reece Topley and Jamie Overton for the month of June.
"This season is the toughest because it's an extra month or six weeks that we won't have those players for. But we've known that, so therefore you try and plan for that. The biggest thing is guessing – and a lot of this job is guessing, believe it or not – who we will lose to the World Cup squad.
"We've lost Aaron Hardie and I've not replaced him yet, because I want to wait to see who we might lose. We may not have to bring someone in. I'd rather have our own players. If we lose five to the World Cup, I'd have to get someone else in. If we only lose two or three, we may not need to because we'll cover off the gaps that I thought might have opened up."
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