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Alec Stewart sat for lunch in London's Cafe Royal. Next to him was his wife, Lyn, and a table or so away were Micky and Sheila, the mum and dad who, if not always by his side, are never far from his consciousness. The National Sporting Club were honouring the England captain while his first book, a diary of the tour to Australia last winter, was launched. Two hundred and fifty punters were in to hear him talk.

``If we play our very best cricket, the cricket I know we are capable of, we can win the World Cup,'' he said over lunch, ``but we must maintain form for all seven weeks of the tournament - points in the preliminary matches could well count in the Super Sixes - and not play in spurts. Consistency is still a problem.''

Did he like the idea of winning the World Cup from a personal point of view? After all, no other England captain has pulled it off. The Gaffer could be immortalised. ``Me, immortal, oh no! Give me a break. It would be a one-day pinnacle of course, but I'd rather have won the. . . ``

The what, Alec? You would rather have won the what? ``I was going to say the Ashes last winter. I accept Australia were the better team but I don't think we were as far away as people say. But for the Michael Slater run-out in Sydney going against us, we might have drawn the series don't forget.''

OK, but for now, what is more important to a cricketer, the Ashes or the World Cup? ``You'll think I'm sitting on the fence but actually they are equally important.'' You are darned right I think you are sitting on the fence - get off! ``No, I mean it, but only because a World Cup comes round only every four years and no home team has ever won. It would be a first, a terrific achievement. I'd take the Ashes, all Test cricket in fact, before any other one-day competition but not before the World Cup, not here in England.''

Contrary to his bullish look, the peacock strut, the handsome strokeplay, the noisy stumper's call, Stewart is wisely reserved in his opinion of the England team. He will have learnt to be so during the harsh Australian winter and most specifically because gifted individuals do not always cut the mustard. He raves about Darren Gough, of course, and is excited by Andrew Flintoff's physical strength and spirit of adventure - ``a special talent''.

He admires Graeme Hick immensely, suggesting that more is to come from him, but points out that though Hick made three hundreds in the one-day series in Australia, England lost two of the games. This is not to blame Hick, of course, but it will not do. ``If a top-three batter is playing that well, we shouldn't be losing,'' he says. ``I want flexibility, with capital letters, from all the batsmen. It's no good playing in a comfort zone, it's a question of playing for the moment which means players performing roles under pressure which may not always suit them.''

Now that Michael Atherton is no more a World Cupper, Stewart will open the innings with Nick Knight. He has come to terms with this and will not, he says, press the self-destruct button which was his downfall in Australia. ``I must bat at my own pace, not as a pinch-hitter which I'm no good at anyway. I must get back to playing as I did in one-day cricket a couple of years ago.''

The England captain makes no secret of his admiration for Chris Lewis and Dominic Cork, neither of whom are in the World Cup party. Probably Stewart and the selectors have not found middle ground when discussing these awkward coves, though in a typical show of solidarity he would not admit as much.

For all the stiffness and the deeply rooted sense of discipline in Stewart, there is a dasher there somewhere - not a revolutionary but maybe the hint of a rebel, or at the very least of a Corinthian itching to have his 15 minutes. The twinkle in the flashing strong blue eyes and the sharp, sometimes acidic wit along with his favourable opinions on men like Lewis and particularly of Shane Warne, who he reveres, confirms as much. We are unlikely to see it though, for it is not the Stewart style, not without a bat in his hand anyway, and a departure from the straight and narrow may compromise his long sought-after position of responsibility. It is a pity, a lot of Stewart is still locked away.

``Our one-day cricket abroad has been poor for as long as anyone can remember,'' he admits bluntly. ``OK, we've not always had our first-choice one-day side and now, when we do, it's not easy for players to come off the English winter and turn it on immediately. But the fact is we are better prepared and more comfortable at home, which is why we've done well in the early-season one-day internationals. We're practised on English pitches, which suit us, and have played loads of 55 and 40-over cricket.''

So why then, do we go to Lahore and Sharjah to prepare for a World Cup in England? ``I don't make the itinerary,'' he says.

We mused on other issues too - the need to preserve the spirit of the game, for the umpire's word to be law, the responsibility to entertain and his much-discussed role as 'keeper, captain and batsman. ``I say again that in Tests I'm happiest opening the batting and leaving the wicketkeeping gloves in the dressing-room. In one-day cricket, there should not be a problem with all three.''

He is comfortable enough with the demands of captaincy off the field: ``Busy yes, too much, no. If I'm seen as public property that's fine, I chose the life.''

Lyn interrupts: ``The phone never stops. We leave it on the answer service now. I don't know how he copes.''

Pretty well is the answer with a team who too often flatter to deceive. He has lightened them up at least, continues to improve the general tone. And it would be handy if he could bring a little of the latent Corinthian to his captaincy on the field which, in turn, would encourage self-expression from his men. In the end it is up to them, of course, to prove they are a unit, and a crack one in English conditions. ``If we play our very best cricket. . . we can win the World Cup. . . ``