Perfect day for smart Alec

Old man of the crease uses the gift of double vision to revel in his twin passions

Alec Stewart was the other winner yesterday. He was 67 when England's game began at 12.30am. When the second goal was scored not long after he was 77, and by the time England had won in Japan Stewart had reached his 15th Test century, and some.

Before this Test he said that, since his rival James Foster will soon be fit again, he would try to play well enough to give the selectors a headache. Not everyone was watching as he moved through to 123, but the selectors must have been and when he was out they might well have complained of a headache.

In fact, it was possible to watch Stewart and the football match simultaneously. By careful positioning in the Long Room in the pavilion you could watch the football on a television screen in the top left corner of the room. Lower your gaze and the cricket was taking place before your eyes, or you could follow the Channel 4 commentary on a screen in the right-hand corner.

That included shots of the spectators in the car park watching the football of a big screen specially hired by the England and Wales Cricket Board at a cost of £10,000 for the occasion. Peter Cole, the journalism professor at Sheffield University, immediately defined this as a post-modern experience. Whatever, it certainly defined information overload.

Stewart himself was acutely aware of the double vision that was required to follow both games. He acknowledged the roar from the car park at England's first goal and celebrated it by hitting the next ball for four. For the second goal he caught the replay by strolling the five paces required to catch sight of the television replay on the large screen.

With England three-nil up after lunch, Stewart concentrated on the cricket. He moved into the nineties with a slog pull from Dilhara Fernando to the wide long-on boundary. The next ball was pulled squarer to deep midwicket for four. The third ball of the over was cover driven for four and his hundred came up from a powerful straight drive. Four successive boundaries took him to 102. Afterwards, he was modest about the onslaught: "Two short balls and two full balls," he said. They were gifts and he did not refuse them.

But he had chosen his moment well. This was the Test in which he equalled Graham Gooch's record of England caps (118). It was his third century at Old Trafford, and his total of 7,632 Test runs puts him fifth among England batsmen.

When he was finally out well caught by Hashan Tillekeratne at silly point Stewart was England's equal highest scorer in the innings with 123. It had taken him four hours and 33 minutes and there were 17 fours in the 190 balls he faced. He was, as they say, in the groove, striking the ball cleanly and well and finally displaying easy confidence playing the spin of Muttiah Muralitharan, who had caused him much embarrassment in the past. He had laid a demon to rest and put the cat among the pigeons.

He was at pains after the day's play to mix his customary modesty ("I had a job of work to do") with some self-advertisement. "I've played 118 Tests over 12 or 13 years which shows I'm a pretty good player."

At the start of the season, Stewart's Test career was generally assumed to have ended after five years he was indispensable at something – opener, keeper or captain. When Foster broke his arm Stewart was the familiar face and he got his second comeback. The first was six years ago when he was 33.

In the first two Tests Stewart got by. His keeping was not as efficient as it once was, and he had scored on 37 runs in three innings for twice out, although he was anxious to reinterpret that: he had been run out, not out and he got a good delivery. His calculation is that was really out only once. But coming to Old Trafford, Stewart would have been unwise to think beyond the NatWest one-day international series, which begins on 29 June.

His style is still instantly recognisable. The quick twirl of the bat, the sideways jumps to relax, the upright stance and the trim run between the wickets.

The crisp elegance of his cover driving was reminiscent of his century at Melbourne in 1998, perhaps his best and most influential Test innings. The bowling yesterday was from an inferior league and on an easy wicket, but soon after play started his hundred was inevitable.

A month ago Alec Stewart was yesterday's man. But he does not recognise himself in the part and he refuses to go away. "If I do well I've a chance of staying in the side," he says. He has done well. He will be in the one-day squad. And India in July? That's a real headache.