Stewart admits he may have played his last game

Alec Stewart's first-class career looks to have come to an end after Surrey confirmed they will not be renewing his contract for next season. Speaking on Sky Sports, Keith Medlycott, Surrey's coach, said financial constraints had forced the club to part company with Stewart, as was the case with Ian Ward, who today announced he was leaving The Oval as well.

Stewart himself admitted he has probably played his last game of professional cricket. After bowing out in England's win against South Africa at The Oval last week, he was undecided whether he would carry on playing for Surrey, or elsewhere, in 2004.

But in today's The News of the World newspaper, Stewart said there was "no point just turning up to play for the sake of it". He continued: "I'll be available for the game against Essex on Wednesday but, as we can't win the title, I don't think there's any point in playing. I think I've played my last game of professional cricket. I'm 99% certain I'm finishing.

"I'm not that sentimental. I said my goodbyes to the Oval crowd during the South Africa Test and that couldn't have gone better. If Surrey had still been in the hunt for the Championship, it would have been different. I've always striven to get to the top, ie England. Once that has gone, why are you playing?"

Stewart made his debut for Surrey in 1981 and captained them from 1992 to 1997. If it is the end of the road for Stewart, he will bring the curtain down on a glittering first-class career in which he scored 26,165 runs at an average of more than 40.