He displaces Adam Hollioake, whose glittering start as leader of a separate one-day side in Sharjah last December faded disappointingly against the West Indies and South Africa. Stewart was asked to withdraw from the selection meeting on Saturday night while the matter was discussed.

Hollioake will certainly be one of a party of 30 players named soon, probably within a week, as possible participants in the busy programme of internationals which faces England before the World Cup next June. His dream of captaining England in next year's World Cup is not necessarily over but so long as Stewart remains so pivotal to England in both five and one-day cricket the selectors have decided that he might as well be in charge of both sides.

David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, said: ``The situation has changed now that Alec has taken over from Mike Atherton as Test captain.

``This decision is no criticism of Adam - the selectors are happy with the way he has performed.''

Things have indeed changed since the Hollioake brothers were the talk of the town early last summer. Adam's cause has not been helped by Surrey's poor performances in the AXA League - they seem destined for the second division of the National League next year - and Ben's star has been somewhat eclipsed since his outstanding A tour. His efforts there have been perhaps unfairly under-valued but he, too, is bound to be one of the 30 named for the triangular. He needs to put in some eye-catching performances for Surrey soon to force the issue.

The triangular will be followed by the ICC tournament in Bangladesh in October, the extensive programme of matches against Australia and Sri Lanka in the new year - a minimum of 10 games - and then a tournament in Sharjah too before the World Cup. A squad of 30 for the main prize has to be named by the middle of January, reduced to 20 a month later and then to the final 15 in March.