There's No Better Opportunity To Etch Yourselves In England Folklore

Paul Edwards catches up with Alec Stewart and discusses the World Cup, the Ashes and Surrey’s defence of the County Championship

The great marquee was up on the Kia Oval’soutfield this week-although the weather hardly justified giving such protection to Surrey’s players as they netted. Then again, maybe the trappings of festival cricket were fitting barely a month before the start of a season which will see a celebration of cricket almost without parallel.

For the first time since the inaugural World Cup in 1975, the game’s greatest international one-day tournament will be held in England during an Ashes summer.

Opportunities to publicise the game could hardly come any bigger and the sense of occasion is not lost on Alec Stewart, one of the most patriotic fellows ever to sport the crown and lions.

“It’s so important England do well,” said Surrey’s director of cricket. “If we win the World Cup for the first time and do so on home soil, it will have a huge influence on the game. And whatever standard England or Australia reach, this is still the Ashes. It will be a tough summer, but potentially it could be the best ever in the history of English cricket.”

No pressure, then, some people might note wryly, but Stewart knows as well as anyone what seasons like this can be like. He was the captain in 1999 when England made an early exit from the last World Cup held here and 33 of his 133 Tests were played against Australia, when that country boasted one of the best international teams in the history of the game.