Gus Atkinson registers third-best figures by debutant in England cricket history
Jul 10, 2024
London [UK], July 10 : Pacer Gus Atkinson registered the third-best figures by a debutant in the history of English cricket on Wednesday.
Atkinson accomplished this feat against West Indies in the first Test at Lord's on Wednesday.
Sharing the control of the pace attack along with legendary James Anderson, playing his final international game, skipper Ben Stokes and all-rounder Chris Woakes, the 26-year-old outshined his more illustrious teammates, taking seven for 45 in his 12 overs, with an economy rate of 3.75 per over.
Atkinson got wickets of skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva, Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph.
The best bowling figures on debut for England are by John Ferris, who took 7/37 against South Africa in Cape Town in 1892, followed by Dominic Cork, who took 7/43 against West Indies in 1995 at Lord's.
Coming to the match, England won the toss and elected to field first. West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals and never really got a breather. Mikyle Louis (27 in 58 balls), Kavem Hodge (24 in 48 balls) and Alick Athanaze (23 in 56 balls) did the bulk of scoring as Windies was skittled out for 121 runs in 41.4 overs.
Besides the seven-fer by Atkinson, Anderson, Stokes and Woakes also got a wicket each.
In their first innings, England is on verge of crossing the 100-run mark at the loss of a wicket, with Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley having played a great hand for their side, placing their team at 88/1, with Pope (42*) and Crawley (38*) unbeaten by the time game was interrupted due to bad light.
Teams:
West Indies (Playing XI): Kraigg Brathwaite(c), Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Joshua Da Silva(w), Jason Holder, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.
