Um - despite not being particularly attracted to his bullish approach to batting (being more of an Atherton fan) I'm not blind to Stewart's contribution.. but I try an avoid passing comment on Stewart because he always irritated the hell out of me at a personal level: not that much of a cricketing thing... just that military bearing, the very proper talk from behind the stumps, the focus, as captain, on "character" and "spirit"... those awful interviews... everything really.

Like I said: nothing much to do with his cricket.. just not a guy I ever took to.

I don't really criticise Stewart for what he did behind the stumps: it wasn't his choice to take on that role, and he did better than anyone could have expected as a gloveman... but the bottom line remains, for me, that Jack Russell should have kept the gloves... and if not him then Piper: someone, somewhere, should have seen to that and then worked out a way of making that sheer class behind the stumps really count (most obviously by getting them standing up to Bicknell: something Stewart never, as far as I know, ever attempted even for Surrey).

Boucher just plain irritates me though: he leaps around excessively... and even when standing back he lets balls through him, drops catches and just looks out of his depth. I'm not mad keen on his batting either: pretty thugish. A man who actually irritates me more than Stewart.

Few cricketers do irritate me.. I'm happy with everyone from Atherton to Caddick, Hussain to Ramprakash and Johnty Rhodes to Steve Waugh: only Graeme Smith and Mike Gatting of the usual suspects really get my back up - I guess these two just hit a raw nerve!