Stone in 'good situation' to press for Test recall
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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
England must pick Gus Atkinson for the Ashes after his five-wicket haul against India... he's the skilful, consistent bowler they need in Australia, writes NASSER HUSSAIN
The Gus Atkinson we have witnessed in this Test match is the version we saw when he first broke into the England side last summer — and one that should be in their Ashes starting XI. England are looking for bowlers that can bowl well in all conditions, and Atkinson strikes me as one of those. With Chris Woakes now out of contention due to his shoulder dislocation, I would start Atkinson in the first Test in Perth. I'd have Jamie Smith at No 7. A spinner, whoever that might be, Atkinson, then one out of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer — probably Archer given the way he's bowled in the previous two Tests — Brydon Carse or Josh Tongue, plus Ben Stokes. Atkinson strikes me as that consistent bowler a team needs in Australia — one with a repeatable action, skilful and quick enough. A lot of people go on about needing express pace in Australian conditions, but look at Glenn McGrath — he wasn't rapid. He was skilful, but equally he had the requisite speed to cause opposition batsmen problems. Sometimes you can have very skilful bowlers that aren't quite quick enough, or rapid ones that don't do enough with the ball, and Australian players don't fear pace. Atkinson's one of these bowlers that will be at 85mph on the speed gun and because he moves the ball, he rushes you as a batsman. That's the combination you need to get early wickets in Australia, really. Here, in taking five for 33 in the first innings on his first Test appearance since May, he was able to control the movement on offer in a way that Tongue and Jamie Overton were unable to. Although Tongue did improve in the second innings. Atkinson had some fortune, too, coming in on his home ground, on the first pitch this series that has provided some sideways assistance. The others have slogged on four flat, tough pitches, while he's come in fresh, been presented with a grassy surface and bowled beautifully. It's a good sign that a bowler can come back with such rhythm immediately. Some take time to get up to speed when they come back from injury, but with Atkinson — whose only match bowling since injuring his hamstring against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge was 30 overs in a second-team game for Surrey last week — it was like he'd never been away. By the end of 2024, his speeds were dropping off a little bit, to the low 80s, and it was looking like the workload was just taking a slight toll on his zip. But he has been England's best bowler from ball one here by far, unearthing the right length for this Oval pitch, following the odd back of a length delivery with the sucker punch — the full one, pitched right up. As well as being very skilful, he's also very calm. Like his Surrey team-mate Smith, he seems born for Test match cricket. They take emotion out of their performances, just rocking up to do their jobs. I quite like that in a cricketer. Some wear their heart on their sleeve. Take Mohammed Siraj, for example. Atkinson, though, just lets his bowling do the talking.
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Brittle England batsmen fail to grind out ugly runs
Already, ahead of this winter's Ashes, this England team had been hailed as 'the most imposing' batting line-up they have sent to tour Australia. Not any more they won't, not after they lost seven wickets in an afternoon session that was only slightly extended. India's seamers reacted well after they had been thoroughly trashed before lunch by Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett: they pitched the ball fuller and got more out of the pitch than England, as they have done for much of the summer except when Ben Stokes has been bowling. Nevertheless, the image that England wanted to take to Australia, of being a 'most imposing' batting line-up, evaporated in the time it took for them to descend from 129 for one to 247 all out with the series on the line. The opening partnership by Crawley and Duckett was dazzling, even by their audacious standards, and threw India completely off their lengths. All that the rest of England's batsmen had to do was to keep out India's seamers – only three of them – until they had tired, and the tourists had to bring on their spinners. An Indian spinner duly emerged after 39 overs, but by then England had lost five wickets and let India back into the game. The lecture delivered over lunch by Professor Morne Morkel, India's bowling coach, must have been an impressive one. The three seamers did not even have to get the ball changed to expose what has lurked beneath the surface of this England side: a brittleness, a reluctance to grind it out and accumulate ugly runs. Since the last Oval Test, less than a year ago against Sri Lanka, England have been dismissed in fewer than 40 overs four times. On this occasion England lasted 51.1 overs, which forced Gus Atkinson and the two surviving seamers to go again, morning and evening. No country has made so many runs in a five-Test series in England as this India side: Jamie Smith has therefore had an enormous task as England's wicketkeeper in the first four Tests of this series but above all in this fifth Test, because Josh Tongue and Jamie Overton have sent Smith diving all over the shop. It was a tired dab with his bat at a 45-degree angle, when Sky Sports's experts had been preaching that the bat had to be either vertical or horizontal on this lively pitch. Why Overton was selected in the first place is a question that could be raised in the House – because he might touch 90mph in a Test this winter? Or because England think he is a useful No 8? Either way, after the call-up of Liam Dawson for the Old Trafford Test instead of Jack Leach, here is an echo of the old days when England's selectors opted for 'bits-and-pieces' players and for bowlers on the grounds that they could bat a bit. It is inexplicable that two bang-it-in bowlers were selected for an Oval green-top in Overton and Tongue. Tongue has worked hard for his place, and he showed at the start of India's second innings that he is no one-trick pony and can pitch the ball up. But if any Overton was to be selected, it should have been the other twin. Jamie has taken two wickets for 164 runs, and had three innings, for Surrey in the championship this season; Craig has taken 27 wickets and had 10 innings for Somerset. Jacob Bethell looked strange when he walked out in white clothes, as if they were borrowed. And since last Christmas he has played one first-class match – one red-ball game, that is, for Warwickshire. He looked a little rusty; he did not read the red ball that Mohammed Siraj swung into him. Bethell, Smith and Overton were blown away at the time when the ball was softening, and when Harry Brook required a partner to stay in. When England last won an Ashes series in Australia, back in 2010-11, their batting line-up consisted of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, both to be knighted, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior. When England toured Australia in 1928-9, their top four batsmen had either reached the landmark of one hundred first-class centuries or were soon to reach it, while another couple of their batsmen scored one hundred first-class centuries but were only selected for one Test each. Time will soon tell how imposing the line-up of this current England side will prove to be. I suspect they will be imposing in their audacity – when the going is good.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Gus Atkinson punches ticket to Ashes as obvious key peg in England's attack
Don't talk about the Ashes. Don't talk about the Ashes. Don't. Talk. About the Ashes. OK. We can talk about the Ashes. But just for a bit, and only in the context of some quietly vital events in the opening session at a green and swampy Oval on the second day of this fifth Test. Two things happened here that will have nudged the dial, not just in this match, but before Perth in November and England's next one. The second of these was an hour of revivalist Bazball as Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley produced a wonderfully breezy 92-run opening stand in reply to India's 224. This was back to the source. It was Ur-Bazball, Bazball Classic, Mexican Bazball with genuine cane sugar – really the best Bazball, from some very handsome Bazball guys. The fifty opening stand from seven overs was the fastest for England in the first innings of a Test. Early on Duckett took 24 off nine balls, including an outstanding example of the Hedgehog Sweep, bunching his quills into a ball, rolling over, whirling his bat past his left shoulder. Crawley kept battering the ball through the offside with such noble and soldierly command you half expected to look down and notice he was batting in epaulettes and a plumed hat. It felt like a Baz-manifesto statement at exactly the right moment, timed to disrupt lengths on a line and length pitch. And for a Stokes-free England a sense, as the ball fizzed to all corners, of Stokes being utterly present, a giant head in the sky above the red brick pavilion, beard massive, eyes blazing. The second and more vital of the two vital things came immediately before this, as Gus Atkinson did an important thing without really seeming to do an important thing. He did so brusquely and methodically as ever, marking a pencil point, inserting a rawlplug of appropriate gauge and putting a first firm screw in the wall, the obvious key peg in England's attack come November in Perth. Atkinson was his usual bashful self as he raised the ball to the stands on his home ground after completing five for 33 to close India's innings. He has that studied anonymity, the look of the forgotten sixth member of a boyband, now grudgingly back for the reunion tour. But he made a decisive statement here, and at a key moment. It is easy to lose sight of the fact England don't really have a hypothetical first choice bowling attack right now. Who have we got then? What's the check-board? Archer: yes, hopefully fit. Wood: yes, who knows. Woakes: crocked. Tongue: fit, raw. Carse: fit, decent. Cook: don't think so. Potts: hmm. Overton: no. And outside of this, who knows? Another Overton? Sonny Baker? Eddie Jack? Jack Eddie? Promising Yorkshire quick Dougal Cakebread? At the end of day two at the Oval England do now have the only actual double tick. Atkinson: yes, fit and ready. And to be fair it probably was always Atkinson and four others. But was it really? Why was he playing club cricket? Why is he suddenly in Surrey Twos? What are the whispers about endurance, fatigue, dipping pace? Is Atkinson actually good? Is this thing for real? The five-for here was confirmation, first of that stellar early record, and second, just in the eye test. Atkinson looked so much better than everyone else here, all clean lines, simple, easy action, the whip in his delivery, the flick of the wrist. His pace was up at 88mph at times. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion Of his wickets Dhruv Jurel was a good, Aussie-facing one, a hard edge from bounce not lateral movement that flew thrillingly high to Harry Brook. And yes, Australia isn't really a thing you can masterplan, despite the fact England always try. Well, we need tall, very quick, hit-the-deck bowlers who can go all day. Good luck with that. We remember Boyd Rankin flailing about like a wounded wampa in Sydney in 2010. He was tall. Atkinson is more from the 2010 metronomic plus decent pace template. Although the real key to that series was that Australia weren't very good. For the second day in a row Atkinson found a lovely rhythm early on. He had Washington Sundar caught hooking at an 87mph bouncer. He padded the numbers with two in an over at the end, bowled and nicked off, having promised to go straighter. But it was well deserved having provided the only element of control on day one. He looked like a leader too. It is easy to forget how good his start has been, and how hard this is to do after just 21 non-Test first class games to date. His method looks transferable. He has skills, can bowl a yorker, can, crucially, seam the ball away from the right hander, a function perhaps of how high his arm is at point of delivery. Atkinson may lack the star power and extreme early-spell speed of Jofra Archer. But he also has the Test record Archer was meant to have by now. Late in the day India kicked off their second innings 23 runs in arrears. It was Josh Tongue who made the breakthrough from the Vauxhall End. By then Atkinson had already laid down his own marker.
