I think the whole game hinged on that last-wicket partnership in the first innings

I think the whole game hinged on that last-wicket partnership in the first innings. I think if we'd have got them out with a lead of 20 we'd have won the match It felt that way at the time. I mean, at 160 for 9 I was 99 per cent sure we were going to win the match Absolutely. You never know what's going to happen in a game, but you always have a gut feeling about whether you're going to win or lose. And I was convinced we were going to win, really certain of it. That partnership - or the way we bowled at that partnership - changed the game really."It is typical of Atherton to attribute reversals to his own side's failings, not to any resourcefulness on the opposition's part.

Nelson Mandela turned up, it was the first first-class game to be played in a township, and 90 per cent of the faces in the crowd were black It was good And we played a couple of other games in townships. But to be honest once the Test matches got under way that side of things went away."The final Test in Cape Town was weird - it was over in a trice and wound up looking one-sided, yet most of the time it felt close. Many of the spectators and players in the series will have grown up thinking of Nelson Mandela as a terrorist Now they were all waving the rainbow flag "Yes," said Atherton "That first game in Soweto was very nice The highlight of the trip. And the party was generally united, we were a pretty happy bunch. And then South Africa was a first- time tour for all of us, so it had novelty value as well It's been good." Not that it is hard to enjoy Cape Town. Newlands is spectacular, sheltered at the foot of Table Mountain and surrounded by big sprays of almond, hibiscus, lilies and orchids.

Besides, the trip round South Africa had confronted the players with historic echoes and ironies. He walks across the lobby with the exaggerated caution of a snail. Once again, an overseas Test series had ended in disappointment. But Atherton was far from gloomy: "It's been one of the more enjoyable tours in recent years," he said, "in that obviously the Test match series was there to be won until the end, so that kept everybody going. An aching spine is, so far as anyone can tell, about the only thing that might stop Atherton becoming one of England's longest serving captains. This is one England skipper who dare not pound the pavements with lung-bursting runs back to the hotel.

There was no way of knowing that earlier in the day he had been wincing dramatically as he lowered his fragile back into a hotel chair. I had played hockey for 20 years, and I often felt at a bit lost at the weekends after I had retired. I've also got certain responsibilities now - my young family comes first. But it would be rather nice if hockey could still fill a big part of my life. You are retired for a very long time, and so I want to play for as long as I can.. AS the floodlights lit up Newlands on Saturday night, and Western Province began the run chase that would eventually bring them victory, Michael Atherton made a couple of impressive plunging stops, diving to his right to pick up fierce slashes to gully.