ALEC STEWART vowed to make it impossible for England to drop him last night after proving his cricket life continues at 40.

Stewart again defied his advancing years as he helped England recover from a middle-order collapse at Riverside.

His age has been held against him in recent times, with calls for a younger wicketkeeper such as Chris Read or James Foster to replace him.

But having proven his ability in the second Test against Zimbabwe, Stewart promised he would play on for as long as his hunger for the game remains.

He said: "I feel exactly the same as I did at 20. I still have the same buzz and pre-match nerves, and to me that's a good sign.

"It shows I'm very much up for the games and looking forward to playing. I woke up at 5.45am, as always, and felt nervous.

"If you're not nervous, it generally means you're taking things for granted and therefore may not play as well as you should do.

"While the enjoyment is there and I still feel I'm playing well enough to warrant a place, hopefully the selectors will keep picking me.

"I don't know how long I'm going to play for. If you perform, you've got a chance of being picked.

"If you're playing well, you've got to try to make the most of it because there are always bad times around the corner.

"I'm nearer the end of my Test career than the start. But people always say you're a long time retired."

Stewart, who met his wife Lynn at a NatWest Trophy match at Jesmond, admitted he did not take a huge amount of pleasure from bettering David Gower's total of 8,232 Test runs yesterday.

Instead, he is focused on leading England towards a first innings score of at least 400 on a wicket that offered a little turn to spinner Raymond Price.

"We need to see off the new ball and then be aware of the lower bounce, but if we can do that I'd like to think we can post 400-plus," Stewart said.

"We had a mini-wobble and it could have been quite horrible if myself and Anthony McGrath had both got out quickly.

"But our partnership has got us back on track - we've played our part in resurrecting the innings - and hopefully we can get into a strong position.

"McGrath has looked very composed. He's settled into the dressing room well.

"People have said, 'It's only Zimbabwe.' But I disagree. Quite often, you can tell if a player is on edge or nervous. But he's looked settled."

Zimbabwe paceman Dougie Hondo thanked former Australia Test player Rodney Hogg after ripping the heart out of England's batting.

Mark Butcher, Robert Key and Nasser Hussain were dismissed in a stunning 15-minute spell that temporarily took the game away from England.

Hondo said: "Rodney Hogg has helped me on my technique and my run-up, and I'm happy with the way I bowled in patches.

"The wind was messing up my run-up, but when I bowled reasonably well I was able to capitalise on it."