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| | Saturday, 29 July, 2000, 16:36 GMT 17:36 UK Atherton and Stewart: 100 not out  Centurions: Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart will both reach the landmark of 100 Tests when they face the West Indies in the Third Test at Old Trafford on Thursday. BBC Sport Online looks back at their England careers. When Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart take the field against the West Indies at Old Trafford they will be joining one of cricket's most elite clubs. Only five other players have made 100 Test appearances for England - Colin Cowdrey, Geoff Boycott, Ian Botham, Graham Gooch and David Gower. The new members of the 100 Club made their debuts within six months of each other: Atherton against Australia on 10 August, 1989, and Stewart versus the West Indies on 24 February, 1990. Earmarked Lancashire batsman Atherton (32) was earmarked as a future England captain early in his career, and he duly led his country in 52 Test matches, winning 13, drawing 20 and losing 19.
Surrey wicketkeeper and batsman Stewart (37) has skippered England 14 times - most recently during Nasser Hussein's absence through injury - with four wins, four draws and seven losses. Atherton played his greatest innings for England in 1995, when he scored 185 not out to save the Second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg. His epic stand lasted 645 minutes and was the fourth longest by an Englishman in Test cricket. In total, he has scored 6,713 Test runs for his country, averaging just over 38.  Stewart's finest hour with the bat came in the Barbados in 1994, when he became the first Englishman to score centuries in both innings against the West Indies. Leading scorer His 118 and 143 at Bridgetown in the face of some fiece fast bowling helped to secure victory over the home team by 208 runs. Stewart was Test cricket's leading scorer during the 1990s, and has totalled 6,733 runs for England, with an average of 40.56. He has also, of course, claimed more than his fair share of scalps as wicketkeeper, with 184 catches and eight stumpings to date.
"Getting your first cap is a huge achievement and I remember mine, in Jamaica in 1990, as though it was yesterday," he said. "But if someone told you that you were going to play 100 Test matches, you would probably have bit their hand off." Disgruntled Atherton and Stewart have not always seen eye-to-eye, most famously over the run-out in the final Test against India in 1993, when they were vying to succeed Graham Gooch as skipper. Although many observers felt Atherton should have gone, it was a disgruntled Stewart who walked extremely reluctantly back to the pavillion.
"We're almost chalk and cheese in the way we play and in our lifestyles, but we get on very well and have a mutual respect. "We've opened the batting togther on numerous occasions and have formed a very good partnership. We know each other's games inside out and enjoy each other's company." Gooch knows what it takes to succeed at international level better than most, having chalked up a record 118 Tests for his country. "They are role models for the way they have gone about their play," he said. "Their dedication and the way they have applied themselves has been exemplary." | | Other top Cricket stories:  Links to top Cricket stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||
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