LONDON, Sept 14: Alec Stewart has said he is ready to retire from all first-class cricket.

The 40-year-old Surrey wicket-keeper batsman played the last of his England record 133 Tests in Monday’s nine-wicket win over South Africa at his Oval home ground.

There had been speculation that the former England captain might play one more season for Surrey where he made his first-class debut back in 1981.

But he told British Sunday tabloid the News of the World: “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 percent 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 any better.

“If Surrey had still been in the hunt for the championship, it would have been different. But there’s no point just turning up to play for the sake of it. I’ve always striven to get to the top, i.e. England. Once that has gone, why are you playing?”

Stewart, who like his father Micky captained Surrey, ended his Test career as England’s second highest run scorer behind Graham Gooch with a tally of 8,463 runs at 39.54 with 15 hundreds.—AFP