Since making his Test debut for England at Lord’s, England bowler Gus Atkinson has amassed an incredible 12 wickets. The 26-year-old helped the home team limit the West Indies to 282 runs in the first innings of the third Test at Edgbaston by taking four wickets. Considering that this is his first series playing red-ball cricket, he has already claimed 20 wickets in total.
Chris Woakes, Atkinson’s teammate, was overjoyed with his performance and praised him for consistently carrying out the team’s tasks.
He said that although bowling at Trent Bridge wasn’t easy, Atkinson made it appear so because of his ability to swing the bowl, which has helped him achieve success thus far.
“Isn’t he making it seem rather simple? He deserves praise because he came in and bowled incredibly effectively. He performed incredibly well when he arrived at Lord’s, earned his accolades, and has since repeated the feat on consecutive flat wickets. Woakes was quoted by Express and Star as saying, “Trent Bridge was hard work for the seamen last week, especially in the beating sun on day two, but he’s really showcased his skills.”
He can use the short-ball strategy effectively since he can swing the ball, has a decent wobble seam, and has some speed behind him. He seems like an all-around bowler,” he continued.
Ben Stokes, the captain of England, called for a pace revolution ahead of the series, and Atkinson’s development would give them confidence with an eye towards Ashes 2025. As this was going on, it was assumed that Woakes would be benched in favour of either Matthew Potts or Dillon Pennington, since England was winning the series 2-0. They did, however, support Woakes when he disclosed that there had been no discussions about dropping him.
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“The management was not consulted about that. It’s difficult to say you don’t want to play when the coach or captain approaches you and expresses their desire for you to participate. Just finishing three tests in a row makes me happy. I didn’t feel well at Lord’s, so I think I entered the series a little uncooked, but as it has progressed, I’ve gained more rhythm,” Woakes stated.
India
