During the tour it transpired that there was a vice-captain after all: Stewart.He is clearly the right man for the job. He was only sacked as Test captain because of things that happened in one-day cricket. He won a major Test series, against South Africa, and if the right run-out decision had been given against Michael Slater in Sydney, he might have come home from Australia with a draw, which would have been close to a miracle.He twice showed a quality which England ought to value above all others: the ability to turn the team round in mid-series. Against South Africa, it happened because Hansie Cronje, in the days when his greatest known weakness was a tendency to be too defensive, failed to go for the kill.

Against Australia, it happened because Stewart gave up trying to do three jobs at once. England were a different team in the second half of that Ashes series, for the simple reason that Stewart was at mid-off, talking to the bowlers, and could bat without being exhausted from keeping wicket. In the first three Tests he made 112 runs for five times out, and England went 2-0 down; in the last two, back at the top of the order, he made his only hundred against Australia, plus a fifty and a forty, and the team, despite having the Test novice Warren Hegg keeping wicket, held their own.Then Stewart did all three jobs again in the one-day series in Australia. His concentration as a batsman disappeared again, and the team, after a good start, went downhill all the way to the World Cup. Where Stewart should bat in the order is one of the few major issues on which he agrees with his fellow elder of the tribe, Atherton – they have both worked out, from long and often painful experience, that an opener who can average 47 is worth far more to the team than a wicketkeeper and middle-order bat who averages 35 if he is lucky.At first Hussain subscribed to this view too, allowed his vanquished predecessor to open the batting, and brought in the next-generation England wicketkeeper: Chris Read, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, with, it has to be admitted, the emphasis on the tail That far-sighted decision lasted three matches. Stewart, who had just made 83 not out as a specialist batsman, was dispatched down the order, where he managed 11 and three.

In South Africa he did better, although two of his three good scores came when he had not just been keeping wicket. At Edgbaston two weeks ago, he failed twice.England’s stand-in captains have a dreadful record in recent years. Allan Lamb stood in three times for Graham Gooch and lost the lot Stewart himself did so twice and lost both. So the poor forgotten Butcher is actually the most successful of the lot At Lord’s, Stewart may do better. It is his favourite Test venue, he will have a point to prove, he has been kept fresher than usual by central contracts, and as Derek Pringle argued on Monday, his uncomplicated up-and-at-’em style could be what England need in a match they cannot afford to lose. But he would have a far better chance if he were not keeping wicket.Captaincy is a full-time job Atherton used to be shattered at the end of five days.