It appears that the England captain was not captivated by the fast bowler's comments about him in The Daily Telegraph last week after the win in Adelaide.
Headley finished with career-best figures of 11 for 98 and his outstanding form on this tour has led the coach, Mike Gatting, to predict that he must be in the running for a Test place.
Yet at the very moment when English cricket should have been rejoicing at the prospect, Headley received an untimely rebuke from back home. His ``crime?'' To suggest publicly he had now proved Atherton wrong in suggesting he did not think the Kent bowler could move the ball away from the bat.
``I don't know where he gets the idea, unless it was after facing me a couple of times last summer,'' Headley had said. He thinks the captain's opinion had something to do with his failing to be picked for a Test against Pakistan and missing the senior winter tours.
Neither Headley nor the tour management dispute the accuracy of the article. Indeed the player has made the same point several times during this trip.
He may have misunderstood what Atherton said but there is no doubt that the perceived criticism has burned deep and driven him to good purpose over here, for which England cricket should sing hosannahs rather than carp.
You might think wiser counsels would have prevailed in the game at home: that the best policy was to share in the rare warm glow that comes from an England fast bowler destroying an Australian side and turn
a blind eye to Headley's ``offence'' of lese-majesty towards the Test captain. Instead, seen from this end of the spectrum, sensible man-management seems a quality still lacking in the Test and County Cricket Board and that Atherton is too wont to stand on his dignity.
Messages flew on the fax between board headquarters and the team hotel and new chief executive Tim Lamb became involved. Headley has had to eat humble pie and is now feeling somewhat contrite not the ideal way to fire up your key fast bowler for the next game against Victoria.
He is a sparky character, an excellent team man with a mind of his own: and so much the better for that. Someone recently suggested that his willingness to say what he thinks makes him something of a ``loose cannon''. If he felt like aiming a few broadsides at cricket officialdom in England, you could hardly blame him after this.