Star fast bowler Gus Atkinson, who made his Test debut for England against the West Indies in July 2024, entered his name in history books on Sunday (September 1) by becoming only the third cricketer in history to score a century and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test match played at the Lord’s. The 26-year-old Atkinson scored a
century for the Ollie Pope-led side in the first inning of the match, which England won by 190 runs on the fourth day.
He faced a total of 115 balls and, with the help of 14 fours and 4 sixes, amassed a total of 118 runs. He was involved in a partnership of 92 runs with Joe Root for the seventh wicket.
After scoring his maiden Test century, Atkinson picked up five wickets for 62 runs in 16 overs in the second innings of the match to join an elite list of cricketers.
Former Indian all-rounder Vinoo Mankad was the first cricketer to score a century and take a five-wicket haul at the Lord’s in the same Test. He achieved the feat for India during a match against England in 1952. Legendary English all-rounder Ian Botham equalled Mankad’s feat by scoring 108 runs and taking 8 wickets for 34 runs in the match played against Pakistan at the Home of Cricket in 1978.
The youngster, who has 33 wickets to his name in five Tests for England so far, is overall the third English cricketer to score a century and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test. Tony Greig was the first English player to achieve the special feat in 1974 during the Test match against the West Indies in Barbados. Botham has scored a century and picked up five wickets in an innings of a Test match on five separate occasions.
Atkinson’s tally of 33 wickets is also the joint-second bowling stats in Tests by an Englishman after five Tests. Only Nicholas Cook (34) has managed to take more wickets than him in the first five red-ball matches for the English team.
