All this while his mother has been ill and his wife was having a difficult pregnancy. Stewart's reward is to be branded too old to be vice-captain at 33. He has not put a foot wrong since, and he now exudes authority as well as flair. Allowing him to leapfrog Alec Stewart is another bold, unEnglish move.But you have to feel sorry for Stewart. But the mere idea of picking a man - a boy, still not 18 - with only three first-class games behind him is exhilarating It's the kind of thing other countries do and England don't Which means it must be right. And it will be an excellent incentive to a generation of Anglo-Asians.The other bit of good news is the promotion of Nasser Hussain. The best move Illingworth's panel ever made was this time last year when they brought Hussain out of the wilderness and made him captain of England A in Pakistan.

I haven't seen him play, and it's puzzling that he has been preferred to David Sales, who has a similarly fine record with England's teen teams and has also made a Championship double-hundred. The result is that one of the many odd aspects of Tufnell's career - the fact that he has played 16 Tests abroad, where he is supposed to be such a disruptive influence, and only six at home - will become even more pronounced.The second-best thing is that Owais Shah is going on the A tour. The line given to reporters when he was discussed but not selected for the first Test against Pakistan was that he could not be picked at home if the selectors were not prepared to take him on tour. Now it turns out that they were prepared to take him on tour - or, more likely, that they are feeling desperate about the state of their attack. The best thing is that Phil Tufnell is finally off the blacklist. That Tufnell was unofficially suspended for the past 18 months was confirmed when Illingworth said that he had "served a long sentence". (If the suspension had been official, there would have been an outcry, and it would have been thrown out on appeal.) If it was feeble of the selectors to leave Tufnell out all summer, it is brave of them to do a U-turn now.

The same statement also revealed that the club captain, Andy Hayhurst, the off-spinner, Jeremy Batty, and the seam bowler, Jeremy Hallett, are being released.. Raymond Illingworth's final performance as chairman of selectors was much like his stint as a whole: a strange mixture of the good, the bad and the plain Illy. A statement from Peter Anderson, the chief executive, yesterday explained Cottam was departing "by mutual consent". The club have given a new contract to the second-team batsman Bradley Parker, who was offered the chance to move last year but remained at Headingley to complete the terms of his engagement. Bob Cottam, the Somerset Director of Cricket, has parted company with the club with a year of his contract still to run.

The Hull-born Robinson made 90 first-class appearances, taking 218 wickets at a cost of 31.49 runs apiece after signing from Northamptonshire in 1991 He has been unable to earn selection this season. Yorkshire have reappointed David Byas as captain but released Mark Robinson, their 29-year-old left-arm seamer. Lance Johnson had three hits to become the first National League player in seven years to reach 200 hits in a season as the New York Mets punished Kevin Brown in a 6-1 victory over the Florida Marlins on Monday. Johnson is the first NL player to reach 200 hits since Tony Gwynn, San Diego, in 1989. AMERICAN LEAGUE: Milwaukee 6 Boston 0; Cleveland 4 California 3; Baltimore 5 Detroit 4; Texas 4 Toronto 3.Eastern DivisionW L Pct GBNew York 79 63 .556 -Baltimore 77 66 .538 21/2Boston 73 71 .507 7Toronto 66 78 .458 14Detroit 51 93 .354 29Central DivisionCleveland 84 58 .592 -Chicago 78 66 .542 7Minnesota 72 71 .503 121/2Milwaukee 69 76 .476 161/2Kansas City 65 79 .451 20Western DivisionTexas 82 61 .573 -Seattle 73 68 .518 8Oakland 70 75 .483 13California 65 79 .451 171/2NATIONAL LEAGUE: New York Mets 6 Florida 1; Chicago Cubs 3 Montreal 1; Colorado 4 Houston 2; Los Angeles 7 Cincinnati 2; San Diego 6 Pittsburgh 5; St Louis 6 San Francisco 2.Eastern DivisionW L Pct GBAtlanta 86 56 .606 -Montreal 78 65 .545 81/2Florida 70 75 .483 171/2New York 64 80 .444 23Philadelphia 58 86 .403 29Central DivisionSt Louis 78 66 .542 -Houston 76 69 .524 21/2Cincinnati 73 71 .507 5Chicago 72 71 .503 51/2Pittsburgh 59 83 .415 18Western DivisionSan Diego 80 65 .552 -Los Angeles 79 64 .552 -Colorado 73 71 .507 61/2San Francisco 59 83 .415 191/2. Todd Zeile hit a three-run homer as the Baltimore Orioles continued their play-off run with a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday, gaining ground on the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. Cal Ripken's RBI double levelled the scores and Chris Hoiles' sacrifice fly drove in the winning run in the sixth inning as the Orioles moved within half a game of Chicago for the American League wild card place and within 21/2 games of New York for the Eastern Division lead.