Lancashire were today drawn to play Hampshire at Southampton on August 11 - the day after the end of the Fifth Test at Headingley.
It means that if the Test goes the distance, Atherton and Andy Flintoff, assuming he retains his place, will have to dash almost the length of the country for another big game.
Lancashire may even consider chartering a plane to prevent them making a marathon drive.
Hampshire, surprise winners against Middlesex at Lord's yesterday, have no such problems, with no players in the England set-up.
But it is still a good draw for Lancashire, who have avoided Leicestershire, impressive conquerors of Warwickshire and keen to make amends for their Benson and Hedges Cup final humiliation by Essex at Lord's. They have an East Midlands derby against Derbyshire at Grace Road in the other semi-final.
Atherton showed terrific resolve yesterday by picking up where he left off in the Trent Bridge Test.
He set Lancashire well on the way to a target of 250 in 58 overs, their allocation having been reduced because of a slow over rate, with a determined 76 from 130 balls.
After batting for more than nine hours at Trent Bridge, he added another 156 minutes of concentration yesterday, his 12th day of cricket in the last 15, before edging a catch to Notts wicket keeper Chris Read.
Afterwards he praised Lancashire for agreeing to England's request to leave him out of the Championship game against Leicestershire which starts at Old Trafford tomorrow. ``It meant I could give everything in the NatWest game and also the Sunday League match against Leicester, knowing that I could take a break in between,'' he said.
His dismissal left Lancashire 193-4 in the 46th over, with a few nerves jangling in the absence of the injured Neil Fairbrother.
But Graham Lloyd and Wasim Akram kept their cool and took Lancashire home with 13 balls to spare in a sensible unbroken fifth wicket stand of 62. Earlier Jason Gallian had marked his emotional return to Old Trafford with 83, the top score of the match.
But Glen Chapple led Lancashire's fightback, and made the most of his recall after being left out of the second round victory over Yorkshire and last week's Championships game at Colwyn Bay, by claiming five wickets, including Gallian, caught by Mark Chilton at backward point.
Chilton then linked up with Atherton, eight years his senior at Manchester Grammar School, in an opening stand of 96 in 26 overs, hitting 41 from 80 balls including five fours and a swept six.
The third of Lancashire's MGS old boys, John Crawley, contributed 20 in a second wicket partnership of 40 before Andy Flintoff came in to blaze 27 in 16 minutes, including the biggest six seen at Old Trafford for years when he struck Notts off spinner Richard Bates over wide long on, out of the ground and into the Kellogg's car park across the road. Further evidence that Freddie eats three Shredded Wheat.