He may overestimate the talent of some of the players under his command, but he is nothing if not realistic about his own situation. He is in the worst trough of a career which began at Fenner's in 1987. He has scored 126 runs in 11 first-class innings since leaving home last November at an average of 12. He has reached double figures only four times, 20 only once. His four Test innings in Zimbabwe produced 34 runs.

Throughout last year his form was poor by his standards: 469 Test runs at 30. The figures were inflated by an innings of 160 against India at Trent Bridge which was blessed by an unusual amount of luck. The captain of England finished eighth in Lancashire's batting averages and 78th in the national list. Twenty-six first-class innings were insufficient for him to make 1,000 runs.

Things have only got worse, so what happens to Atherton now? Graham Gooch resigned at a point of national failure to make way for him. Ted Dexter, Keith Fletcher and Ray Illingworth have arrived in hope and paid the price of further failure, especially overseas. The coach has only been in the job for nine months and the new chairman of selectors (favourite, David Graveney; alternatives including Graham Gooch, John Barclay, Ian Botham) will not be appointed until, probably, March. So Atherton's, as he himself says, seems to be the next head on the chopping block.

He is not so much vulnerable as already condemned by most of his jurors. The prosecuting counsel has cited his lack of chivalry on the field; his occasional churlishness to opponents off it; his distaste for journalists who miss the game's finer points; his evasive testimony to Peter Burge, the match referee at Lord's in 1994 and the man who pops up as referee again now at his time of personal crisis; the safety-first inclinations always visible in his batting and sometimes in his captaincy; and, most pertinently now, his lack of batting form and what some perceive to be the humiliation of losing three one-day internationals to Zimbabwe.

The defence is strong, too. I doubt if England would have done any better under anyone else's captaincy in the last four years. He has opened the innings outstandingly until recently. He is an intelligent, honest, balanced character, completely unpretentious, with a good sense of humour; one of the most dependable opening batsmen in the world; a captain who has learnt much and, as a leader if not as batsman, is reaching his peak. From a distance events on and off the field in Zimbabwe were depressing, especially the thrashing in the one-day internationals, but the side were picked with the Tests in mind and although performances in those two games were uninspiring, they were certainly not disastrous.

Nevertheless defeat in the Test series which starts this week would mark the end of the Atherton era, and even if things look up here, which to an extent they already have, a fifth successive defeat by Australia would probably result in an unfortunate end to his benefit season with Lancashire.

Over a meal beside a bridge across one of New Zealand's many lovely rivers, an appropriate venue both because of his new craze for fishing and the possible symbolism of a bridge too far, I suggested that he had admitted as much:

Mike Atherton: Not quite. I've accepted that if my own form does not pick up or we don't improve as a team in New Zealand the decision would probably be made for me or I might jump before I'm pushed. I also said that four years seems a natural cycle for a captain, from one Australian tour to another. But I've never said I'll definitely give up after the Ashes series.

If we do well I may well feel that I'd like to do another year or two as captain, perhaps another two after that for England and maybe another two or three for Lancashire. I'm 28 now and I think 32 or 33 is getting on for a Test player now things are more hectic. More games, more travel. That's why I've pressed for a young, mobile side. You get the odd exception who can stand the pace like Graham Gooch, who is good enough to be in the side as a batsman still, but generally I'd call 33 old for a Test player now.

CMJ: Have you thought what you want to do beyond cricket?

MA: No.

CMJ: Journalism, perhaps? Or teaching, like your father? Or something in the game?

MA: I really don't know. Something quite different, probably. Definitely not teaching. It would be nice to do something outside the game but when you've spent so much time in it, it's probably easier said than done.

I still enjoy everything about being a professional cricketer, including the touring. I think I've been more relaxed on this trip than many others. I'm absolutely not browned off or disillusioned with it all. I don't feel grouchy or careworn. The batting's a worry but I feel I've been on top of the job as a captain on the field.

Leadership is harder to get right or to evaluate. I try to deal honestly with players and I've got excellent support from the management. I think players know where they stand. We had oneto-one sessions at the start both in Zimbabwe and here with the management and myself discussing things with each player. So although Jack Russell, for example, is very disappointed, he understands why we have left him out, even if he doesn't agree. And with Spoons [Chris Silverwood] we told him what was expected of him and that he shouldn't get disheartened if he didn't make the Test team. He's done really well. The environment in the team is happy, although inevitably it's difficult for the ones who don't play.

CMJ: And all the harder when they weren't allowed to bring wives and girlfriends. Wasn't that rather cruel? Surely it would have been better to have had a break between the tours at Christmas?

MA: It was very difficult given the itinerary. Some players obviously aren't happy about it but everyone understands that it's a one-off. I think in future there should be a time when the wives and girlfriends and families can come out but definitely not during back-to-back Test matches as happened in South Africa.

CMJ: You personally are, as you say, remarkably relaxed. That's not, as has been suggested, gallows humour?

MA: No. I'm enjoying New Zealand and I'm really pleased with the way we've played here so far. I enjoyed most aspects of Zimbabwe but obviously not losing the one-dayers. They were a better oneday side than us but if we'd got one more run in the Bulawayo Test people would have looked at the tour differently.

CMJ: But you didn't manage to win there. You were perceived as an introverted bunch of players, with what Alistair Campbell called a superiority complex. I believe even that playing the part of a superior team of cricketers was part of the plan for the tour?

MA: We believed we were the better team and we wanted to show that but that didn't mean we were unfriendly. The two teams got on very well. Alistair Campbell is a good lad and a good player, too. It was difficult to get out and about and see the country and meet people more than we did because the itinerary was so tight.

CMJ: Your own batting in New Zealand has been a genuine struggle, hasn't it? I've never seen you scratch for runs as you did at Palmerston North.

MA: It was terrible. All I can do is keep practising and trying to get the feet and head moving right. It felt a little better in Hamilton and I've been hard at work against the bowling machine. David Lloyd's video recordings are very helpful too.

CMJ: Have you always been a back and across the crease player? Is it the only way against top-class fast bowling?

MA: Not the only way, no. It works for me. Back and across with the weight and the head going forward. When you are playing well it all happens naturally and you just don't think about it.

CMJ: What do you think about when the bowler is running in at you?

MA: Just watching the ball.

CMJ: And you don't accept that the cares of captaincy have started to weigh on you, even subconsciously? The evidence suggests that it's getting harder to be a batting captain of a Test team. Hansie Cronje only averaged 24 last year; Mark Taylor's been having a terrible time; Azharuddin couldn't get a run in England; even Sachin Tendulkar found it difficult until that Test in Cape Town.

MA: Yes, but if anything I've done better with the bat since I became captain. It isn't the pressure. It's technical. Playing against Donald and Pollock and McMillan and people last winter when I got a lot of short stuff got me into the habit of getting square on. That's the way to play the short-pitched stuff. I don't mind it but on slower wickets with the ball leaving you it's not the best way to play.

CMJ: You have a more or less permanent back injury. How is it at the moment?

MA: It was very painful at the start of Zimbabwe but the injections there sorted it out and it's been fine since.

CMJ: If you don't have any luck here and you were to lose the captaincy, or to give it up, would it affect you materially very much?

MA: No. I get slightly more money for being captain but I always felt that I didn't want to milk it or make what I could out of it. Being captain of England at cricket is such a massive honour. I have a contract with Gray- Nicolls and a writing contract with The Sunday Telegraph and that's all. I don't have a wife and children to support, so it wouldn't worry me from that point of view.

CMJ: Might you actually hang on as captain much longer than people think? Allan Border was called Captain Grumpy too but he came through after three or four years of losing.

MA: Yeah. I wanted to have a word with Allan during the Danny Morrison benefit match, but there wasn't a suitable moment. I just want us to make progress.

If Corky is fit he'll make a big difference to our attack and I feel we can play it both ways here. We've got two good spinners now if it's going to turn and a good balance of outswing and inswing with Cork and Mullally plus Gough to get wickets in other ways and Chalky White as a dangerous extra bowler. We've fallen, almost accidentally, on a decent top six and with White at seven I feel that's a really solid looking team. I'm not gloomy. I hope I'm around for Australia.

Few people in professional sport have the choice of when they hand over leadership to someone else, but Mike Atherton has worked so hard for the turning of the corner that it would be a pity indeed if he cannot guide England round it. On the eve of a series he has to win, a prayer used by Sir Francis Drake seems apt: ``Oh Lord, teach us to remember that it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same until it be thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory.''