Few cricketers have made a more impressive start to their Test careers than Gus Atkinson. Fewer still — if any — have done so in such extraordinary and distressing circumstances as the fast bowler did last summer.
On his first appearance, Atkinson took 12 wickets against West Indies at Lord’s, the best debut by an England bowler since 1890. Six weeks later, against Sri Lanka and again at Lord’s, he became the first England cricketer to score a century and take five wickets in an innings in the same match since Ian Botham 40 years ago.
But Atkinson played much of his first Test series knowing that the man responsible for the death of his mother, Caroline, in a car crash in Fulham in December 2020 had recently pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
Youssef Berouain, a former actor, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison at Southwark Crown Court while Atkinson was playing in the final Test of that series against West Indies at Edgbaston. Berouain’s case was protracted because he moved to the United States after the crash and in passing sentence the judge said the delay caused by extradition hearings was a source of great distress to the Atkinson family.
Atkinson, speaking in Multan where he played a key part in England’s sensational win in the first Test against Pakistan before being rested for the defeat in the second Test, is clearly glad it is over.
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“I wasn’t interested in it, really. I actually forgot,” he says. “I thought it [the sentencing] was the next day. It was when Popey [Ollie Pope] came up to me and said, ‘I hope everything goes OK’ — that reminded me. I took four-for that day [four for 67 in the West Indies first innings] and I spoke to my dad on the phone after and he told me about it.
“I guess I was quite focused on the cricket. I didn’t really want it to distract me. It was obviously a few years ago now and I just wanted to get on playing. But it was definitely important, the situation. It’d been a long process of him being charged.
“I didn’t really know how I’d feel until it happened. Before, if you’d asked me, I’d have been, ‘It’s irrelevant, it’s not something I’m focusing on.’ But after it happened, I thought, actually, it felt like there was a bit of closure.”
As with many cricketers, family support was crucial in Atkinson’s development, and his mother and father, Ed, were central to his early progress, although his mother only saw one professional game that he played.
He was 22 when she died. “I remember thinking, ‘I can let it affect my cricket and or I can try and be the best player I can.’ From that moment, things were better for me, from a cricket point of view.
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“I could still be where I’m at if my mum hadn’t passed, but I think it gave me perspective on my career and life. I’ve only got one chance to play for England and it’s a short career, so I might as well make the most of what I’ve got and the situation I’m in. She would have wanted me to play for England and go on.”
He had broken into Surrey’s first team earlier in 2020 but did not rate himself “until two or three years ago”. “I was OK,” he says. “I had natural ability but wasn’t very quick and wasn’t incredibly accurate. I don’t think I knew what a wobble-seam ball was. I’d just bowl medium-pace away-swingers.”
The turning point was playing white-ball cricket, which required hitting the pitch hard, bowling quicker, not looking for swing. He was also indebted to bowling coaches Azhar Mahmood, who is assisting Pakistan in this series, Jade Dernbach and Geoff Arnold.
Playing games on television helped. “I always thought performing in big moments, not necessarily being consistent, got people picked [for England], and doing it at the right times. Playing in TV games made me push myself.”
Atkinson’s four wickets in the first Test against Pakistan followed 34 in six Tests in the summer, giving him a haul of 38 in seven games that has not been bettered by an England bowler since Frank Tyson in the 1950s.
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“I want to keep moving forward and focusing on what is next but, looking back, it was an incredible summer and more than I could have wished for,” he said.
Asked which spell was most satisfying, he added: “My opening spell in Test cricket was good — five overs, two for two, and the two runs were off a misfield, so I could have started with five maidens. That would have been pretty cool.”
He finished his first day as a Test player with figures of seven for 45, including a burst of three in four balls, and thereby fulfilled an aim he had articulated over dinner with his father the night before that he wanted five wickets. Even that performance, though, was trumped by an unlikely 118 off 115 balls from No8 against Sri Lanka.
“People have asked, ‘What’s better, the hundred or the five-for?’ The hundred, definitely. It’s probably the highlight of my summer. I’ve always known I’m a good batsman but I haven’t had a huge chance at Surrey. Maybe I hadn’t taken it as seriously as I could.
“Baz [Brendon McCullum] said before I went out, ‘Try and put the spinner under pressure. I don’t care if you get out’. I did that and it sort of went from there. Everything just clicked. I was seeing the ball well, moving well. There were a few nerves in the morning [he resumed the second day on 74 not out] but I was thinking, ‘If I just bat [freely], I’m going to score a hundred.’ Thankfully I got there quite quickly.”
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As he moved through the nineties, he became conscious of the “Lord’s buzz” subsiding as the bowler ran in. “The crowd went dead-silent every ball. Then I hit the runs to get there. That feeling was pretty special.”
He had also been aware of the Lord’s crowd when he stood at the end of his mark on a hat-trick ball against West Indies on his debut, except that time the noise was loud, urging him on. That was another cool moment.
Not the least of his achievements was getting through three Tests in three weeks against both West Indies and Sri Lanka. That would have been arduous for a seasoned campaigner, but for a new boy anxious to do well and unfamiliar to the pressures of the environment, it was a big test.
Even coming off after the first session of his debut, he felt knackered. “As soon as I woke up in the morning, all I was thinking about was the Test, and my first ball,” he recalled. “It got easier through the summer, but at the start it was tiring thinking about the game so much. Physically, towards the end was difficult.
“In the Test we just played [against Pakistan] there were times where I thought, ‘I’m so tired’, but you get the ball, you run in and the adrenaline kicks in. You just keep going.” Atkinson is expected to be back for the third Test.
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Atkinson has also been cast in an unfamiliar role as new-ball bowler, which is not what Surrey use him for, but in all his Tests he has worked well in tandem with Chris Woakes, Atkinson nipping the ball off the seam, Woakes swinging it.
“I try and get the batsman playing as much as possible and keep the stumps in play,” he explains. “Hit the pitch hard on a good length and line. It’s being patient but also attacking.”
Atkinson’s heroes date from the 2005 Ashes — the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff — but he closely studied Dale Steyn, whose influence might be detected in the way Atkinson runs in cradling the ball in both hands.
He already has one eye on the Ashes. “That’s something we’re all building towards. We’ve also got India touring, so it will be a big year and we [England’s fast bowlers] are going in the right direction. If we could all be fit gearing up towards the Ashes that’d be great.
“I know they [England] are looking for pace, so if they could have their main fast bowlers ready and raring to go we’d have a good chance. It’d be a great series if that was the case.”
