England cricket icon Alec Stewart sends message to current stars playing 'unhealthy' game

Stewart will stand down as ­Surrey’s Director of Cricket at the end of the year after helping to deliver three successive County Championship titles and a succession of ­international-class players

Alec Stewart was doing ­battle with Australia at Edgbaston when his wife went into labour with their son.

England’s opening batsman was back in the dressing room, choking on the disappointment of a ­six-wicket defeat and a fifth-ball duck, when he got the call that Lynn was about to give birth and that he should get himself into gear pretty damn quickly.

As it turned out, Andrew was born five minutes before his dad ­completed his 100-mile dash to the hospital.

Stewart isn’t a man for regrets. But he admits: “They were ­different times in 1993. Back then, you wouldn’t even ­contemplate missing a game for ­England in any circumstances.

“I’ve always been a believer that family always comes first, but, ­thankfully, the world has changed over the last 31 years and I think there’s now a much better understanding of what that actually means. You look at someone like Pat Cummins, who has spoken about spending more time at home once his second child has been born.

“This is the captain of Australia, someone who is at the pinnacle of the game. It’s to Pat’s great credit that he has taken a step back and said ‘some things are more ­important.’ Cricket can take over your life – and the way the game is now being scheduled means that the pressures have become ridiculously high to the point of becoming unhealthy.

“Striking the right balance is tough. Of course, you want to play for your country, of course you want to maximise your earnings playing ­international and franchise cricket.

“But I think that we will see more players making these decisions. I’d like to think that coaches ­understand the need for players to do it. I just hope the ICC [International Cricket Council] and cricket boards realise that player welfare is going to ­become more of a challenge over the coming years and that something has to give.”

Stewart will stand down as ­Surrey’s Director of Cricket at the end of the year after helping to deliver three successive County Championship titles and a succession of ­international-class players like Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson, Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Ollie Pope, Jamie Overton, Jason Roy, Ben Foakes, Rory Burns, Tom Curran and Zafar Ansari. He took the decision so that he could spend more time with his wife during a battle with cancer that has now been ongoing for 12 years.

Stewart, however, will continue his family’s 70-year association with the county – his father Micky has the members’ pavilion named in his honour at The Oval – in a newly-created position as part-time high performance cricket advisor.

“The title is a bit of a mouthful,” laughed the 61-year-old. “The most important thing is that my hours have been reduced so I can spend more time with Lynn. People like [coach] Gareth Batty and ­[captain] Rory Burns will share some of the burden, but I will still oversee the set-up and have a lot of input in the big decisions.

“If I ever feel it isn’t working, I’ll be the first to say so. I love the club too much to just go through the motions. The original idea was to step down completely. I wanted to be there for Lynn whenever she needed me, but she also knows that I just wasn’t ready to retire. And she wouldn’t have wanted me hanging around the house all the time getting in the way. I’ve always been someone who likes to have a purpose to get up every morning.”

Chelsea fan Stewart scored more than 26,000 first-class runs for Surrey and England and his country in 113 Tests and 170 ODIs before bringing down the curtain on his 21-year ­playing career in 2003.

Pakistan legend Wasim Akram once admitted that he was one of the most accomplished batsmen he ever bowled at. The death of his former Surrey and England team-mate Graham Thorpe in August was a shattering blow that Stewart is still coming to terms with.

Thorpe committed suicide at the age of 55, and Stewart admitted: “I don’t want to say too much about Thorpey because it’s still upsetting. “I lost a team-mate and a great friend – and it’s been difficult in itself.

“And I’m definitely not the only friend to feel that. But his family has been left ­without a husband, a father, a son, a brother, so their loss has been much more profound. They are the people we should all be thinking about when we think of ­the great Graham Thorpe.”