Making your Test debut at Lord's is pretty special. To take seven wickets on that occasion is a huge achievement.
Surrey seamer Gus Atkinson (7-45) showed England's Test future is safe as he helped the home side to a 121-run win over West Indies on day one of the first Test match at the home of cricket.
The 26-year-old joins the likes of Tom Hartley (vs India, 2024), Josh Tong (vs Australia, 2023), Rehan Ahmed (vs Pakistan, 2023) and Will Jacks (vs Pakistan, 2022) as the latest England players to score five on their debut, while Atkinson has done twice as much.
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Atkinson's seven wickets on day one at Lord's
In 12 overs, Atkinson bowled 30 dot balls and took three wickets in four deliveries, stunning the Lord's crowd. Four overs later, he took two wickets in three deliveries, with his teammates and the crowd cheering him on.
Atkinson admitted it was a scene he “never dreamed of” when Surrey team-mate Ollie Pope gathered with his family to present him with the hat.
“I tried to stay as balanced as possible, and my dad kept telling me it was the biggest day of my life,” he said after the game.
“I had to tell him to relax because I was trying not to think about it that way. He was a little bit nervous at the start but after the first few overs he became quite calm.”
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Highlights from day one of the first Test match between England and West Indies
Atkinson took the first two wickets without conceding a run, becoming the fifth player to take five fours on debut under Ben Stokes. He is also the fastest Englishman to achieve it in 53 balls.
Earlier this summer, England's managing director Rob Key said he would prioritise pace bowlers over wicket-takers, but Atkinson has done both.
He recorded the third-best performance by an Englishman on Test debut, conceding two more runs than pace bowler Dominic Cork, who took 7-43, also against the West Indies in 1995.
Atkinson took his wicket with the second ball, when he induced a bottom edge from West Indies' most experienced Test batsman and captain Craig Brathwaite (6), which flew over the stumps and set up England's breakthrough.
He started the day with a cross-seam pitch, but when the pitch turned out to be drier than expected, he switched to a tighter wobble-seam to spread out left-handed hitters, particularly Kirk McKenzie (1) and Alek Athanadze (23), who threw thick outside edges to Jack Crawley and Jamie Smith, respectively.
“My basic ball is the scramble seam, and today I was bowling on the slope, bowling from the pavilion end, and that was the most dangerous ball I had,” Atkinson added.
“I was trying to roll it down the hill for fourth stump and if there was a left-hander I would try to push it with a weird inswinger. I thought that was the best way to get a wicket.
“The seams may have been a little more sloppy than I would have liked, but that's something I can improve on.
“Bowling with a scramble seam seems to help me bowl faster and hit the ball harder. It's worked pretty well for me in the past.”
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Nasser Hussain and Stuart Broad discuss Atkinson's dream debut.
With just 21 first-team appearances to his name before his Test debut, Atkinson has proven that England's scouting system, which prioritises and exploits skill over face-to-face selection, is working.
The same device was used to unearth Somerset's off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, who, like Atkinson, made his debut in India earlier this year and was thus selected again for this Test.
As Atkinson handles the ball, Harry Brook (25) handles the bat. Having missed the India tour for personal reasons, the 25-year-old returns to the Test fold for the first time since the 2023 Oval clash against Australia. The Yorkshireman has had a stunning start to his Test career, scoring 809 runs in his first six appearances for England, and looks set to take England further with the bat.
With James Anderson out of the Lord's Test, Stokes' squad is set for a shake-up as he prepares for the 2025 Ashes, with England's young players looking not only safe but promising.
Watch live day 2 of the first Test match between England and West Indies. Sky Sports Cricket Thursdays from 10:15am (first ball at 11am)
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