Gus Atkinson

An easy run-up and a brisk action precede the zippy deliveries that leave Angus Alexander Patrick Atkinson’s 6’2 ft frame. Unlike most English pacers that rely on swing and seam, Atkinson often scrambles the seam, even with the new ball. His effectiveness comes from his ability to set up batters with consistent lines and lengths before using sharp bouncers or swift yorkers to clean them up. Not quite the quickest English pacer around, at least in a team that features Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson still has the pace and skiddiness to rush batters. With his speeds hovering between 135-145 kph and an arsenal of variations, Atkinson has quickly proven to be an effective wicket-taking weapon. That much was evident on his Test debut, which came against the West Indies in 2024, when he nearly stole the limelight - with figures of 12/106 - off Jimmy Anderson who was playing his last Test. Picking up 7/45 and 5/61, Atkinson’s name went up twice on the Lord’s Honours Board in his debut game.

Atkinson’s international debut came in T20s in September 2023 against New Zealand. It was a fantastic debut as the lanky pacer troubled the NZ batters with his pace and bounce to pick up 4/20 - incidentally the best figures for an Englishman on T20I debut. In the following game, Atkinson picked two wickets and finished the series being England's leading wicket-taker. Having impressed in the shortest format, Atkinson made his ODI debut against the same opposition i.e NZ, however, the fast bowler wasn't able to impress. Not only did he fail to pick a wicket, but also proved to be quite expensive in his first game. His economy was close to 7 on ODI debut. Atkinson was a part of England's World Cup squad for 2023, however, with the presence of bowlers like Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Reece Topley, Sam Curran and David Willey, Atkinson featured in just two games for England.

Gus Atkinson made his Test debut in July 2024 at Lords’, in James Anderson’s last Test match. He was sensational from the get go, troubling the batters with his extra pace and bounce to end with figures of 12/106 in the Test match. A few matches later, Atkinson starred with the bat as well in a Lords’ Test match, as he scored a superb century against Sri Lanka. He was one of the finds of the summer for England, picking heaps of wickets. Atkinson has since been a regular member of the English Test setup, filling in atleast partially for the James Anderson sized void.

Facts

> Atkinson represents Surrey in domestic cricket

> He has demonstrated he can hold his own with bat in hand and has a FC batting average of around 20 along with multiple fifties

> Atkinson attracted a INR 1 Cr. bid from KKR in 2024 but chose to withdraw in light of workload management following consultations with the ECB

> His figures of 12/106 on Test debut were the best bowling figures by an England debutant in 134 years

> Atkinson plays for the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred and was part of their title-winning squad in 2023

> He has also featured in the ILT20 and PSL

By Anurag Hegde