Alec Stewart, England's most capped player, is set to make his final international appearance on his Oval home ground when the fifth Test against South Africa gets underway here Thursday.

Once his 133rd Test is over, England will have to adjust to life without Surrey stalwart Stewart who for 14 years has been a mainstay of the team be it as opening batsman, wicketkeeper or captain.

Unfortunately for the 40-year-old Stewart it has generally been a mediocre team.

That has left him with the unwanted record of being on the losing side in more Tests than any other player in cricket history, 54 of his 132 matches (41 per cent) ending in defeat.

By contrast only 38 (29 per cent) have ended in victory with 40 (30 per cent) drawn.

Stewart, renowned for the immaculate state of his kit, inherited his old-fashioned values from his father Micky, who also played for Surrey and, briefly, England before becoming England manager in the late 1980s.

If Stewart's background was that of a solid English professional, his batting has always had a cavalier dash about it.

Brought up on true pitches at The Oval, few contemporary England batsmen have looked as good against fast bowling as an in-form Stewart.

His elegant, backfoot style was at its best when his two hundreds in the 1993-94 Barbados Test set up an England victory against a West Indies attack led by Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

It was not until he was 26 that Stewart became a Test player but the cries of nepotism (Micky was still England manager) came regardless.

What helped prolong Stewart's career was England's lack of a batting-bowling all-rounder to succeed Ian Botham.

For most of the 1990s Stewart, Test cricket's leading scorer in the decade with 6,407 runs at 40.81, shared keeping duties with Jack Russell, a more natural gloveman.

Eventually Stewart a better keeper than many gave him credit for got the gloves full-time.

That allowed England to play an extra bowler but not even Stewart could combine the physical demands of keeping with opening.

Dropping down the order Stewart, vulnerable against spin, found himself facing it early in his innings.

In 1998 he replaced Mike Atherton as captain and promptly led England to a first major series win, at home to South Africa, in 12 years.

But a first round exit at the 1999 World Cup in England saw Stewart, passionate but inflexible, replaced as captain by the more inventive Nasser Hussain.

In 2000 he marked his 100th Test, at Old Trafford against the West Indies, with a century and the prolonged applause that followed made clear what England supporters felt about him.

His reputation suffered though on England's 2000-01 tour of Pakistan when an Indian bookmaker alleged that he had received money for information during England's tour of India in 1992-93.

Last year, against India at Lord's, he surpassed his hero Graham Gooch's record of 118 England Test appearances.