Michael Andrew Atherton OBE is a former England international first-class cricketer and broadcaster. He was a right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England and an occasional leg-break bowler. He was appointed England captain at the age of 25 and led the team in a record 54 Test matches.
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Background
Atherton was born in the English town of Failsworth in the county of Lancashire on 23 March 1968. His family includes several well-known athletes, including his father Alan, a former Manchester United reserve goalkeeper in the 1960s.
He captained the Manchester Grammar School cricket team as a teenager, for whom he hit nearly 3,500 runs and took 170 wickets.
His performances earned him a spot on England's under-19 squad, which he captained at 16. From 1982 to 1986, he also represented Lancashire Schools. He received the Jack Hobbs Memorial Award as the Outstanding Schoolboy Cricketer at the under-15 level in 1983. He took 6–27 in a non-first-class match against Marylebone Cricket Club in 1984. After enrolling at Downing College in Cambridge to study History, he was chosen at the age of 18 to play for Cambridge University Cricket Club and was awarded a blue.
Because of his rapid climb through the ranks and vast leadership experience, he received the moniker "FEC," which is assumed to stand for "future England captain." Atherton is honest in his autobiography Opening Up about the fact that there are more colorful options for "FEC,"; the second term being "educated," as suggested by his teammates at the time.
Career
The accomplished former captain, Michael Atherton, has been the opening batsman and occasional leg-break bowler for Lancashire, England. He attained the esteemed captaincy of England when he was just 25 years old. After his retirement, Atherton works as a cricket commentator with a sports TV channel Sky Sports. He was a commentator with a public service TV broadcaster, Channel 4, and Atherton worked as a cricket correspondent with the British national newspaper The Times.
Atherton was a successful commentator with Talksport and BBC radio. He gathered all the fame with his grimly humorous views on cricket. Michael used to work as a successful journalist with a broadsheet newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph. Atherton was the opening batsman for England against New Zealand, where he scored 151 runs, which are pretty impressive statistics. In the 1993-94 game, he scored 510 runs averaging 56.67. Michael won the game by scoring 407 runs at an average of 40.7 against South Africa. He is the esteemed author of the book titled Opening Up: My Autobiography in the year 2002. In the year 2006, Atherton released another book titled Gambling: A Story of Triumph. His book credits include Glorious Summers and Discontents, Opening Up, Atherton's Ashes, and Gambling.
Awards
Michael Atherton was awarded the Jack Hobbs Memorial award for being the Outstanding Schoolboy Cricketer in 1984. Atherton scored 6-27 against the Marylebone Cricket Club. The University of Cambridge honored Atherton with a Blue for competing at the highest level in sports at the college level. Atherton was honored with the title of Young Cricketer of the year (1990). Michael was awarded the title of Sports Journalist of the year in 2010.
Personal life
Atherton married Guyana native Isabelle De Caires (granddaughter of West Indies test cricketer Frank De Caires). The couple is the parents of two sons.
Joshua de Caires, Atherton's eldest son, got a professional deal with Middlesex in 2020 after playing for the county's academy since Under 15 level. On 5 July 2021, he made his first-class debut for Middlesex against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.
Because Atherton has the degenerative illness ankylosing spondylitis, he couldn't duck under bouncers and had to stand tall and sway out of the way. Allan Donald took advantage of this by bowling short.
Last Modified: Aug 19, 2021
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