By Rob Hodgetts BBC Sport Online

Former Surrey star Mickey Stewart hailed the club's third County Championship in four years as an achievement to equal their seven straight wins in the 1950s.

Surrey clinched the title on Saturday without setting foot on the pitch when results at Old Trafford and Kent went their way.

But while India enjoyed the better of the third day of the third Test against England at Surrey's headquarters, it was the county side who had the most to celebrate.

"It is a result of a huge amount of hard work by the players on the field and everyone at the club.

"And it vindicates the policy of the club whereby we are always striving to have players of the best possible quality.

"If you're going to look to win things you can't just replace experienced players with lads coming through and we didn't want to go through a transitional phase of team building.

"So we signed one or two established stars to blend with our local talent and all in all we have achieved a good balance."

Stewart, a former England manager and father of England's most capped Test player Alec, began his Surrey career in 1954 at the age of 21 and played in five of their seven consecutive titles between 1952-1958.

But he is adamant that the current side contains just as many stars as those alongside him throughout the 50s - names such as Jim Laker, Alec Bedser, Peter May, Ken Barrington, Tony Lock, Peter Loader, Arthur McIntyre and Stuart Surridge.

"They are both tremendous achievements and they are both top sides in their own rights which shows in their results," said Stewart.