Mike Atherton

Gutsy and stubborn, single-minded and sledger-proof, Mike Atherton was an opener in the classic English tradition, making batting look like trench warfare. Defence was his forte, but when his bad back wasn't playing up, he hooked freely and timed the ball sweetly through point.

Atherton made three hundreds, three 80s and four other scores of 50-plus in his first 12 Tests, against Australia, India and New Zealand, but then went 20 matches and over three years before his next century, against West Indies in St John's in 1994; he promptly followed it with another two, against New Zealand, during the home summer. At the tail end of the following year came the fabled unbeaten 185 against South Africa in Johannesburg, where, in tandem with a cussed Jack Russell, he held the home attack at bay for over ten hours and nearly 500 deliveries to wrest a draw for England. A rather less edifying moment in Atherton's career had come the previous year against the same opponents at Lord's, when he was caught with dirt in his pocket, trying to alter the condition of the ball.

In the eyes of the opposition's lead bowler, he was England's most wanted man for the seven years until his retirement at the end of the 2001 Ashes. Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose claimed his wicket 17 times apiece in Tests, and Glenn McGrath 19.

Australia seldom saw the best of him, but his relish for a personal duel did much to bring about series victories over both South Africa (1998) and West Indies (2000). In Karachi, in the 2000 Test that England thrillingly won with darkness falling on the fifth day, Atherton set things up with 125 in the first innings.

Thrust into the captaincy at the age of 25, he proved more durable than successful, but after finally resigning in 1998, he slipped comfortably into the role of elder statesman - which he later parlayed into a long-running broadcast and cricket-writing career.