Mike Atherton was born on March 23, 1968 in Failsworth, Manchester, Lancashire. He was a technically correct right handed opening batsman and occassional leg spin bowler.
After a successful schoolboy career which included captaining the England Under 19 team, he won a Blue from Cambridge University. He made his first class debut for Lancashire in 1987 and was earmarked as a future England captain for which he earned his nickname of Fec.
Atherton was a dour, no frills player who valued his wicket. His Test average of 37.70 (115 Tests, 7728 runs, with 15 centuries) does not tell the whole story. He lacked nothing in terms physical courage and loved the hard knocks that come with competing in Test cricket.
He will be remembered for his famous battles with Alan Donald. In 1995, Atherton and Jack Russell combined for one of the all time great performances to save the Test match at Johannesburg. Atherton made a monumental 185 not out in 643 minutes and got great support from the dogged Russell who batted 235 balls to score 29 not out. In 1998, Atherton tamed a rampaging Donald to remain unbeaten on 98 at Trent Bridge to ensure England won the series.
Atherton’s reputation was tainted by the 'dirt in pocket’ controversy against South Africa at Lord’s in 1993.
In his youth, he vowed to beat Australia. Despite playing in all the Ashes battles from 1989 to 2001, he never did win a series, either as a player nor as captain. Aussie paceman Glenn McGrath made a bunny of the England opener by dismissing Atherton 19 times in Tests. He played 33 Tests against Australia, to score 1900 runs at a sub-par average of just 29.69. He only scored a single century against the old enemy, 105 in Sydney in 1991.
At the age of 25, Atherton took over from Graham Gooch as captain after the Ashes were lost in 1993. He won 13 of his record 54 Tests as captain and lost 17. He resigned in 1998 but played on as a batsman under Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain.
Atherton retired after losing the Ashes in 2001. He now spends his time as a journalist and an expert commentator on TV and Radio.
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