Atherton and Stewart rise to centurion rank

Former England captains with contrasting styles prepare to play their hundredth Tests against West Indies at Old Trafford tomorrow

Sometime tomorrow, a shade before 11am if England are in the field, about 10,000 good folk at Old Trafford will rise and cheer two of English cricket's most loyal subjects begin their hundredth Test matches. If a smidgen more passion is directed towards the local lad, Michael Atherton, rather than his fellow centurion, Alec Stewart, it will only be because, in these parts, geography tends to run thicker than generosity.

Sometime tomorrow, a shade before 11am if England are in the field, about 10,000 good folk at Old Trafford will rise and cheer two of English cricket's most loyal subjects begin their hundredth Test matches. If a smidgen more passion is directed towards the local lad, Michael Atherton, rather than his fellow centurion, Alec Stewart, it will only be because, in these parts, geography tends to run thicker than generosity.

In truth, both deserve top billing, for they have been fine servants to both cricket and country in a lean period for the English game.

England's cricket team has not been overburdened with success over the last decade, but what little has accrued has generally had its foundations laid by one or the other. Yesterday, hauled in front of an expectant media, they paid homage to one another.

"To have opened the batting as long as Athers has shows what a world-class player he is," Stewart said. "Stewie is brave and always aggressive at the crease," Atherton countered. "His nine not out, on that awful pitch at Sabina Park two years ago, was a testament to that."

"He never gives anything away and always leads from the front, whether as captain or opening batsman," Stewart added. "He has the respect of our dressing-room and every other dressing-room around the world."

Interestingly, both feel the the England team is in better shape now than when they joined it for the first time: Atherton in July 1989, Stewart in January 1990.

"It was a strange series," Atherton recalls. " Apart from getting whopped by the Aussies, there were defections to South Africa [on a rebel tour] so we didn't really have a team to speak of. Now there are structures in place that help preparation. For example, central contracts are a big step simply due to the culture change of putting England first."

Atherton and Stewart will be the sixth and seventh England players to achieve such a feat, following such luminaries as Colin Cowdrey, Geoff Boycott, Ian Botham, Graham Gooch and David Gower. In truth, though neither is quite in the same league as those mentioned, their careers have run in such close parallel that they should really go down as equal sixth in the pantheon.

Despite this proximity, and as well as opening the innings together in 29 Tests, they have never made a hundred in the same match. At present the three-figure count is 14-13 to Atherton, though Stewart, with 40.56 as opposed to 38.14, has the higher average. Perhaps more significant is the fact that Atherton has not been dropped since his second Test, an indignity Stewart has twice experienced in the middle of his career.

Before they were due to reach the same milestone in the same Test, the pair, as England's batting mainstays for much of the 1990s, were destined to be forever twinned. They are obviously different, yet somehow joined at the hip too. As they sat down to do their interviews, Atherton quipped: "As you can see, Stewie's got his shirt tucked in, mine's out."

As recent captains of England, the MCC commissioned paintings of them by Andrew Pankhurst. The artist's views on his subjects are recorded elsewhere in this paper, but the paintings have been loaned to Lancashire and will be displayed in the pavilion museum for the duration of the Test.

Having the same artist paint their portraits on the same balcony at Lord's encourages comparison. For one thing, Pankhurst's Cezanne-like slabs of paint, and the shadow on the sitters, gives both faces a mask-like appearance. As neither gives much of themselves away in public, it is an apposite way of depicting them.

In fact, where differences in personality are revealed is in the way the body is carried. Atherton looks the more relaxed. As a man who takes an interest in art, he will have appreciated witnessing the artistic process, though perhaps not the posterity factor, which is what would have got Stewart's juices flowing.

They share certain things. Players who survive long enough to win 100 caps must have something in common. Keith Fletcher, England's coach in the middle part of their careers, reckons the pair had a self-belief and determination that set them apart from most contemporaries.

On the field they display a quality that Voltaire referred to as the "rugged English". Neither are characters, though both have plenty of it. Now aged 32, Atherton, for instance, has had to overcome the handicap of a painful back condition, while Stewart, after enduring taunts when his father was England coach, has been asked to perform more roles than Rory Bremner spoofing a Labour Party conference.

As players, the 37-year old Stewart is the less adaptable, playing his shots irrespective of the conditions. It is that trait, rather than Atherton's cussedness, that brought his greatest moment - the back-to-back centuries in Barbados six years ago.

So far, Atherton's apogee is his back-to-the-wall 185 against South Africa at the Wanderers in 1995, a 10-and-three-quarter hour epic which saved the match. Mind you, his unbeaten 98 in England's victory against the same opponents at Trent Bridge, two summers ago, after he had upset Allan Donald by not walking for a catch off his glove, was some of the best cricket seen in recent times.

In sport, every peak tends to have a corresponding trough. For Stewart, the nadir would probably be his sacking after England's early exit from last year's World Cup.

Atherton's lowest point came with the soil in the pocket affair against South Africa at Lord's in 1994. Caught on camera applying soil to the ball to try and help it reverse swing, Atherton lied to the match referee, Peter Burge.

It was this deceit, not thought to be the done thing by a Cambridge graduate and captain of England, that suddenly became the greater crime, an about-turn that left Atherton increasingly wary of the press.

Their cricket, for all its ups and downs, does not really reveal the private man. Atherton, ascetic in his approach to batting, is positively catholic in his tastes away from the game, with interests as diverse as wine, fishing and art flicks. He even follows horse racing, along with the frivolity and chance such a sport entails.

Stewart, on the other hand, is cavalier about matters of the bat, but is disciplined and careful about his lifestyle and money. When not playing, he likes to watch Chelsea while keeping his eyes peeled for any deals that may be in the offing.

On tour, the gulf between them widens even further. But whereas Atherton could find contentment just about anywhere, Stewart - as his mother once famously said of his father, Mickey - would not be comfortable unless he was within a mile of a Bally shoe shop.

If there was once a rivalry between them, it has now been put well aside. With neither committing themselves to how long each might play on, the focus is on the current series against West Indies which continues with the third Test tomorrow.

"It is a crucial match," Atherton reckons. "Whoever wins it has a good chance of taking the series. That is why, although it will be special to walk out with Stewie on Thursday, we'll also be trying to put it out of our minds as quickly as possible."

THE 100 CLUB

Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart will become the 22nd and 23rd players to join cricket's élite "100 Club" in the third Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford tomorrow. World cricket's latest centurions will also become the sixth and seventh Englishmen to achieve the feat after Colin Cowdrey (114), Geoff Boycott (108), David Gower (117), Ian Botham (102) and Graham Gooch (118).

PREVIOUS MEN TO REACH 100 TESTS

1 Colin Cowdrey (England) v Australia, Edgbaston, July 1968 2 Geoff Boycott (England) v Australia, Lord's, July 1981 3 Clive Lloyd (West Indies) v Australia, Kingston, April 1984 4 Sunil Gavaskar (India) v Pakistan, Lahore, Oct 1984 5 David Gower (Eng) v West Indies, Headingley, July 1988 6 Viv Richards (West Indies) v Australia, Brisbane, Nov 1988 7 Dilip Vengsarkar (India) v New Zealand, Bombay, Nov 1988 8 Allan Border (Australia) v West Indies, Melbourne, Dec 1988 9 Kapil Dev (India) v Pakistan, Karachi, Nov 1989 10 Javed Miandad (Pakistan) v India, Lahore, Dec 1989 11 Gordon Greenidge (West Indies) v England, Antigua, April 1990 12 Desmond Haynes (West Indies) v England, Trent Bridge, July 1991 13 Ian Botham (England) v New Zealand, Wellington, Feb 1992 14 Graham Gooch (England) v India, Calcutta, Jan 1993 15 David Boon (Australia) v W Indies, Port-of-Spain, April 1995 16 Steve Waugh (Australia) v South Africa, Sydney, Jan 1998 17 Ian Healy (Australia) v South Africa, Adelaide, Jan 1998 18 Courtney Walsh (West Indies) v England, Georgetown, Feb 1998 19 Salim Malik (Pakistan) v Zimbabwe, Lahore, Dec 1998 20 Mark Taylor (Australia) v England, Brisbane, Nov 1998 21 Mark Waugh (Australia) v India, Sydney, Jan 2000

ENGLAND'S NEW CENTURIONS

Michael Andrew Atherton Alec James Stewart Date of birth 23 March 1968 8 April 1963 Place of birth Manchester Merton County Lancashire Surrey England debut 10 Aug 1989 24 Feb 1990 v Australia v West Indies (Trent Bridge) (Kingston) Tests (as captain) 99 (52) 99 (14) Innings 182 (94) 179 (28) Not out 6 (4) 13 (2) Runs 6,713 (3,707) 6,733 (1,001) Average 3,814 (4,118) 4,056 (3,850) Highest score 185no (185no) 190 (164) 100's 14 (8) 13 (2) 50's 40 (21) 35 (5)

MIKE ATHERTON

Since Atherton made his debut in August 1989, England have played 115 Test matches. Either he or Stewart has appeared in every match. They have appeared together on 83 occasions but never both scored centuries in the same match.

Atherton was appointed England's 71st captain for the fifth Test against Australia in August 1993. He resigned after the sixth and final Test against the West Indies, at Antigua, in March 1998.

Record as captain: 52 matches, 13 wins, 20 draws and 19 defeats.

ALEC STEWART

Stewart succeeded Atherton for the 1998 home series against South Africa having previously captained the side in place of Graham Gooch, who was injured, during the 1992-93 tour of India and Sri Lanka. As official captain he led the side in 11 matches, winning three with three draws and five defeats. With Nasser Hussain injured, Stewart resumed the captaincy for the second Test against West Indies which England won at Lord's last month.

Record as captain: 14 matches, 4 wins, 3 draws, 7 defeats.

OPENING SALVOS

Atherton and Stewart have opened together in 29 matches and in 50 innings have scored 1,960 runs at an average of 39.20, achieving six century partnerships. The best was 171 v West Indies at Barbados in April 1994.

Atherton has been on the winning side in 24 Tests, has appeared in 37 draw matches and been on the losing side in 38, Stewart's record is W24 D33 L42.