Atherton and Stewart prepare for 100th Test

As the England squad prepare for the Third Cornhill Test against the West Indies, starting at Old Trafford on Thursday, two of the players certain to play will be going through their pre-match routine for the hundredth time. Alec Stewart and Michael Atherton become members of the Hundred Tests for England club along with Graham Gooch, Colin Cowdrey, Geoffrey Boycott, David Gower and Ian Botham.

Stewart is 37 - five years older than Atherton - but it was the Lancastrian who made his debut six months before Stewart. While Atherton began at Trent Bridge against Australia on August 10th 1989, Stewart had to wait until the following February 24th to face the West Indies in Jamaica. Despite marked differences in their career patterns since then, the pair has come together at this juncture with remarkably similar records.

Atherton has played 3 more innings than Stewart but has scored 20 runs fewer in Test cricket - 6,713 to 6,733. Atherton has the edge in centuries (14 to 13) and fifties (40 to 35), but it is Stewart who just shades the battle of the averages with 40.56 to Atherton's 38.14. With a highest score of 190 against Pakistan at Edgbaston in 1992, the Surrey man can just look down on Atherton's 185 not out against South Africa in the epic Test in Johannesburg in 1995-6.

Those figures are all the more notable because of a number of factors conspiring against them. Atherton has suffered from a chronic back condition throughout his career and had the burden of captaincy in 52 Tests. Stewart also captained the side, but only on 14 occasions, the last of which was against the West Indies in the Second Test at Lord's - one of his 4 victories while in charge. In addition, he has had the responsibility of keeping wicket.

That has often meant that he has not opened the batting - a position that he has always favoured. Nevertheless, he has still managed to open the batting with Atherton in 29 matches, averaging a shade under 40 with 6 century partnerships.

The next target for them is the record 118 Test appearances notched up by Graham Gooch. With 16 Tests scheduled between now and the end of next summer, that is a distinct possibility. The Chairman of the England Selectors, David Graveney, is of the opinion that they could go on, even if he admits there will be problems in replacing them when the time comes for them to step down. "I'm not saying they can't be replaced, but it isn't going to be easy and I hope we can squeeze a good few more Test out of them yet."

An Old Trafford Test against the West Indies means that their 100th appearance will be special for both men. For Atherton because he is on his home ground and for Stewart as the West Indians were his first opponents and because he will always be remembered for his two centuries against them in the Barbados Test of 1994. Presentations will be made to both men before the game, but the best commemoration for both would be an England victory and to celebrate at the end of their 102nd Test with a series win against the West Indies. It would be their first.