WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

As the champion of women's cricket, Rachel Heyhoe-Flint acquired one distinction Michael Atherton seems unlikely to share: she captained a World Cup- winning England team. Indeed, she was unbeaten as skipper from 1966-77, in addition to scoring almost 1,600 "Test" runs.

The name became synonymous with her sport, although not everyone these days makes the connection. "On one occasion, someone I met on a train spent an hour and half discussing show jumping," she said. "Another seemed to think I had sailed the world single-handed."

Nowadays, she is public relations executive of Wolverhampton Wanderers, a role that stemmed from a friendship formed 26 years ago with the club's wealthy patron, Sir Jack Hayward, who sponsored an England women's cricket tour to the West Indies in 1970.

A former PE teacher and, briefly, tenpin bowling coach, she once coached the US women's hockey team and also kept goal for England. She took up journalism in the 1970s, writing for the Daily Telegraph and cricket magazines as well as becoming sports editor of the Wolverhampton Chronicle.

She represents a number of golf clubs, but football is her first love. "Apart from getting to see the games, I do a lot of community work, which I really enjoy," she said. Now 56, she is married to former Warwickshire cricketer Derrick Flint. Her son, Ben, is at Durham University.

Jon Culley