After his sparkling 170 for England against Pakistan at Headingley over the weekend he leads his county against Essex with the treble an increasingly realistic proposition.

Surrey lead the championship and the Sunday League, and bookmakers William Hill have made them the favourites to win the NatWest Trophy.

Stewart did not play the last time Surrey won something, the NatWest Trophy in 1982. That was his second season at the Oval, and since then one losing cup final has been his only brush with success at county level.

For a player in his 16th season, whose father played all his career there before him, Stewart is contemplating an emotional month. Surrey have won their last four NatWest games against Essex.

The only factors against them seem to be Stewart's one-day form, which has been almost non-existent for more than two months, and the fitness of Chris Lewis, the England all-rounder, who was limping during the Headingley Test.

Essex will be sniffing the air for rain this morning because Stuart Law has to catch a flight to Australia this evening to join his national side, eliminating him from any second day's play.

Law has scored 11 hundreds for Essex this summer, including one in each of the two previous NatWest rounds. Essex have not reached the final since 1985.

Michael Bevan, booked for the same flight as Law, must similarly play on a provisional basis for Yorkshire in their grand reunion with Lancashire at Old Trafford. His final gesture might be to avenge Yorkshire's one-wicket Benson and Hedges Cup semi-final defeat there a month ago.

Almost 18,000 tickets have been sold and there will be a heavy accent on security, especially after the drunken scenes at the Headingley Test over the weekend.