MIKE Atherton's record against Glenn McGrath does not augur well for the Ashes series which gets under way at Edgbaston tomorrow.

New statistics, claiming to be the most authoritative ever produced, show the England batsman averages just 12 against the Australian strike bowler - "the sort of average you would expect from a tailender" according to the head of the team conducting the research.

Bad enough, in fact, to prompt suggestions that the Lancashire man should not open the innings.

But Atherton remains a prized scalp and one man who knows him as well as any and better than most, claimed today that the statistics gave a false picture of his contribution to the England cause.

Statistics

Mike Watkinson, the former Lancashire captain and England Test all-rounder, has been an Old Trafford team-mate of Atherton's for more than a decade and reckons: "It sounds like this is another example of making statistics prove anything you want.

"If you take Courtney Walsh versus Atherton in isolation, you'd probably come to the conclusion that Athers can't play. Walsh probably got him out more than anyone else but that didn't stop him getting a truckload of runs against the West Indies!

"There's more to it than just statistics. Athers could be seeing off a bowler and doing a good team job but the figures might not recognise that."

Wisden has devised a new set of statistics - the Wisden 20:20 Head-to-Head analysis - showing precisely how each of England's batsmen has fared against each of Australia's bowlers in recent Ashes series. Every ball has been logged and collated and McGrath's figures against Atherton - he has dismissed him 13 times out of 24 - are ominous.

"These are stunning figures," says Wisden Online editor, Tim de Lisle.

"Cricket-lovers already knew Mike Atherton had often got out to Glenn McGrath but it is quite something to be reduced to an average of 12."

Watkinson, who now captains Lancashire 2nd Xl and is professional for Walkden in the Bolton League, responds with a simple illustration: "Suppose McGrath bowls the first five overs of a match and Athers faces a third of those deliveries - 10 balls - and scores a couple of runs.

"McGrath is taken off, Athers goes on to hit 70 or 80 then McGrath comes back after a rest and gets him out with his third ball!

"The statistics - McGrath has taken his wicket for two runs from 13 deliveries - don't look good from Athers' point of view but he's still done a good job for the team."

Despite the damning conclusions of the Wisden 20:20 research, McGrath has acknowledged ahead of the Ashes series that taking Atherton's wicket will still be the biggest psychological blow the Australian bowlers can land. That, Watkinson insists, is proof in itself that the Lancashire man remains a serious threat to the Aussies' hopes of dominating the series.

He says pointedly: "If McGrath saw Athers as such a walkover, he wouldn't have him marked down as the scap he most wants to take - the player who is going to be most inspirational to England."