Bat manufacturers Slazenger were forced into a sheepish apology today as they presented Alec Stewart with his second commemorative bat within 48 hours after spelling 'dismissals' wrongly on the original.

The first bat – complete with 'dissmissals' – was initially handed to Stewart during Thursday's lunch interval in recognition of his outstanding career with England and his imminent retirement.

But eagle-eyed viewers inundated Surrey CCC, which had organised the ceremony, to inform them of the spelling mistake.

"We had hundreds or emails and phone calls at reception," admitted Surrey spokesman Johnny Grave, who usually spends his time sending out press releases about ticket sales at The AMP Oval. "The bat was originally delivered here on Wednesday and we immediately noticed the mistake but had no time to correct it.

"So we ordered a new one immediately but unfortunately it didn't arrive until today so we had to hand it over to Alec as it was yesterday. But he'll get the new one today," added Grave.

Remarkably this is the second year in succession that Stewart has received a incorrectly-engraved bat for services to English cricket.

Last year he was presciently given an OBE when he only had an MBE at the time – the senior gong duly followed this year but it's not sure how influential the original bat was in the decision from St. James's Palace.

This latest cock-up has proved a costly error for Slazenger with the manufacturers having to cough-up twice at £500 a pop for each bat.

At least Stewart won't be around in 2004 for a hat-trick of mistakes, but that will be of little consolation to Slazenger today.

5 Sep, 2003