96: Alec Stewart

133 matches. 8463 runs @ 39.54. 15 hundreds. Highest score 190. 263 catches, 14 stumpings.

14 years. 2x good. 2x excellent.

The discussion

One of my earliest memories of following and watching cricket was the 1990/91 Ashes in Australia. Although Alec Stewart had scored a 50 against New Zealand earlier in the year at Lord’s, it was his 79 batting at 6 in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne that announced his arrival on the Test stage.

From there, Stewart's career was one of going where he was needed most. As a wicketkeeper, he spent a lot of the early part of his career in a timeshare with the great Jack Russell. To give you an idea of his batting versatility, check out Stewart’s career stats by position in the batting order:

Source: ESPN CricInfo

As you can see from the table above, Stewart had at least 10 innings in every spot from opening to number 7 throughout his Test career. He also scored a hundred from every position in the top 6! I have NO idea how many other Test cricketers have achieved either of those landmarks, but it speaks volumes about how desperate England were to find stability in their batting order in the 1990s, and how vital Alec Stewart was to the fortunes of English cricket during that period.

His opening combination with Michael Atherton was defined by doggedness and determination. Stewart might not have peaked as one of the top two or three batters in world cricket, but his longevity and consistency is why he finished with more than 8,400 Test runs. He overtook Graham Gooch as the most-capped Test cricketer for England (118) at the time on his way to 133 Tests across a 15-year career. That number still ranks 4th for English players, behind only Stuart Broad (148 matches and counting), Sir Alistair Cook (161) and James Anderson (162 and counting).

Although Alec Stewart was often in a timeshare with Jack Russell as a wicketkeeper, he still played 82 of his 133 Tests as a wicketkeeper, accumulating over 275 dismissals. That he was able to maintain a Test average of almost 40 while also keeping wicket for such a significant portion of his career is a testament to his mental strength. Only three wicketkeepers have more runs than Alec Stewart:

Source: ESPN CricInfo

His average of 46.70 as a batter is on par with players around him in the Hall of Fame, better than David Gower (44.25) and Graham Gooch (42.58).

To put Alec Stewart’s performances as an opening batter in perspective, his average of 44.64 at the very top of the order is within a hair’s breadth of arguably England’s greatest opener, Alistair Cook (44.86). Furthermore, 44.64 puts Stewart in the top 10 of all openers over the course of his career, and he kept wicket for some of those games, too! Again, from a longevity perspective, England tried 18 opening batters over the course of his career, and his 3,348 runs as an opener rank 3rd behind Graham Gooch and Michael Atherton (during the period 1990–2003), and his average is also 3rd, behind Gooch and Michael Vaughan.

The verdict

Alec Stewart’s value to his team was that he could bat anywhere in the order (and clearly did), keep wicket, lead the team at a pinch and still deliver a Test average on par with some of the greats of his era (at least as an opener). His all-round versatility is one of the key reasons that I included him in the Hall of Fame, even above pure batters with slightly superior records. I look at Alec Stewart’s career as one that is greater than the sum of its parts. In his case, averages, runs and dismissals may not each individually compare to the greats of the game in those categories, but they combine to a career that is unique. And when you dive deeper into his resume as a batter, you see his value as an opener and how favourably he compares to his peers. His wicketkeeping adds another string to his bow, and I have no doubt that as a player and a captain Alec Stewart deserved to win more Tests than he did.

In one word

Bulldog

Notes

1.          ESPNCricInfo. Top averages among opening batters during Alec Stewart’s career.
https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?batting_positionmax1=2;batting_positionmin1=1;batting_positionval1=batting_position;class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=batting_average;qualmin1=30;qualval1=innings;size=200;spanmax1=04+Sep+2003;spanmin1=24+Feb+1990;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

Bio

Record

Source: ESPN CricInfo

career peak

Sources: ESPN CricInfo, ESPN CricInfo