Surrey are mourning the death of Lynn Stewart, wife of Alec, their former captain and director of cricket. She had endured a 12-year battle with breast cancer.
Flags were flying at half-mast on Monday morning at The Oval, where Surrey are playing Hampshire in the County Championship, and club chair Oli Slipper said: 'The sincere condolences of everyone at Surrey County Cricket Club are with Alec and the whole Stewart family.
'Our very best wishes are with the family and we will continue to offer any support to them that we are able to. In the meantime, we ask that people respect their privacy at this difficult time.'
Alec Stewart, 62, stepped down from the director of cricket job after guiding Surrey to a hat-trick of championship titles in 2024, and took on a role as high-performance cricket advisor – a part-time position that allowed him to spend more time with his wife.
'I do owe her some time,' he told Sky Sports last year when explaining his decision.
He described the decision as 'the toughest of my working career', explaining that he wanted to spend more time with his family, and he managed just that before Lynn's death.
Alec and Lynn had two children together - Andrew and Emily. They joined him and Lynn at Buckingham Palace in 2003 when he received his OBE.
Stewart had taken a temporary leave of absence from his role as director of cricket to care for Lynn at the start of a new course of treatment.
Upon giving up the role, he said: 'Since 2013, I have given this job my total commitment and it has been an honour and a privilege to be a part of the greatest cricket club in the world. However, the job is not one that you can just leave at the ground, as it demands 24-7 attention.
'As people may know, my wife has been battling cancer since 2013 and I want to give her, and my family, more of my time over the coming years than this job allows.'
Surrey became the dominant force in red ball cricket in the county game under his stewardship, having also produced a number of Test players including the likes of Ben Foakes, Sam Curran and Ollie Pope.
As a player, he spent his entire playing career with the club, scoring more than 26,000 First-Class runs in 447 matches.
Speaking to the Telegraph in October, the former cricket star opened up on Lynn's illness, saying: 'There are bits and pieces that have crept up recently. It's never going away. It's managing it.
'That is, there are some goodish times, and then the last four weeks have been tough for her. And then it's just putting faith in the oncologist we've had from day one, who's been brilliant.
'But yes, now I've got housework duties, cooking duties and other duties on the agenda, which I do to the best of my ability, which isn't great, but you've got to try, haven't you?
'It is two weeks on and two weeks off with chemo and the oncologist has said we will attack it with vigour. And hopefully make life more pleasant. So it's just managing it really, dealing with it, which is what we've always done. She's the brave one.'
Stewart is a popular figure in English cricket having played 133 Test matches for his country between 1990 and 2003.
Only James Anderson, Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad have played more Test matches for England.
During his time in charge at Surrey, he has been approached by the ECB over multiple England roles but has turned down advances on each occasion to remain close to his family rather than travel abroad.
