Officially of course he has been having a poor run of scores

Officially, of course, he has been having a poor run of scores. As a batsman, he usually knows after a five-minute net if he is either in or out of nick. “Real Atherton shots,” said David Lloyd, England’s coach, who must also have been pleased at the fluency of Hussain’s 40.When Atherton reached his fifty, any lingering caution was instantly disposed of, and the horrible crabbed shot that brought his demise, as he tried to drag the left-arm spinner Vaghmaria over midwicket, would never have seen the light of day had his score been destined for the Test match and not the first-class section of Wisden.He is a man who rarely doubts his knowledge of self, and then only as captain. In truth, it probably needed the early dismissal of Nick Knight, lbw to Henry Olonga, to encourage a more diligent approach.With his feet moving well, courtesy of a looser pain-free back, his shot selection was spot on, and he struck the ball with the crisp efficiency of a confident man. Like his painkillers (which he has to change regularly) the England captain has also clearly built up a tolerance to adrenalin, the levels of which now needed to “turn him on” being rarely available outside the Test and one-day arena.Yesterday you could sense that facing a Matabeleland attack containing barely two useful bowlers – Heath Streak, the Zimbabwe opening bowler, was apparently resting and, although he fielded, he did not bowl – only half stirred his juices. When he fails, they invariably chase the game, rarely catching anything but a beating.Judging Atherton’s form is never easy, particularly in non-internationals.

When he scores runs, England usually post competitive totals. Much needed in Thorpe’s case who, after a scrappy start to last year’s tour of South Africa, seems slowly to be finding his touch: a fact his tally of nine boundaries, one a mowed six over midwicket, appears to indicate.However, it is the skipper’s form that will probably decide whether or not the batting jigsaw will fit together in time. As it was, he opted to let Thorpe and Nasser Hussain have lengthy stays at the crease. A target – even with England’s history of upsets – that ought to be well beyond what is probably the weakest first-class batting line-up in the world.
Atherton, never one to fret unduly over his own form, could have pursued victory earlier by declaring sooner.

If he has not, then he would know that they outnumber, by some distance, the times England have been allowed the luxury of setting their opponents a target, which, thanks to a bright half-century from the captain himself, and a more primeval effort from Graham Thorpe, England were able to do by asking Matabeleland to score 377 to win. Since taking over as England captain, Michael Atherton has probably lost count of the amount of different painkillers he has had to take for his bothersome back. Bath’s Joe Ewens comes in for the injured Newcastle centre Andrew Blythe and the Harlequins flanker Bill Davidson replaces the injured Martin Corry of Bristol.Bateman for Wales, page 29. Saracens’ No 8, Tony Diprose, regains the captaincy from Dawson, who has a knee injury.

When we develop that cohesion, we will be in a position to match anything that has gone before.”Nick Walshe, of Harlequins, takes the place of Matt Dawson at scrum- half, in the England A team to play Queensland at Gateshead tonight. There is enormous potential everywhere you look in this pack; the only thing it lacks is the cohesion of the last outstanding set of forwards, who had 20 or 30 games together. Now we have a collection of youngsters who want to get out there and make the game theirs. “When I came into the side I was able to learn from players of the stature of Winterbottom, Dooley, Probyn and Moore. This is a wonderful honour and I’m grateful.”At 28, his enthusiasm for life in the darkened recesses of a Test front row remains undimmed, largely because he believes England have the makings of a pack to rival, even to surpass, the great unit of the early 1990s.