On a historic morning, Gus Atkinson became the first man to take a Test hat-trick at the iconic Basin Reserve and only the fourteenth Englishman to achieve the feat in the history of the game but in his view it’s not even the best thing he’s done this year, Jeff Thomas reports from Wellington.
Having bowled the luckless Nathan Smith, who dragged on when offering no shot, and removing Matt Henry next ball with a vicious lifter that the seamer could only fend to Ben Duckett at gully, Gus Atkinson said he stood at the end of his mark with total clarity of mind and a very clear plan, “Yorker, yorker, go for the stumps, be greedy and take the hat-trick.”
Unfortunately for New Zealand, Tim Southee, facing up in a Test for the final time in Wellington, was not quite so fog-free. England had set the trap for the short ball, a fly-slip was in place and two men on the boundary behind square on the leg-side. Southee has been a compulsive hooker and puller throughout his career and despite the circumstances England thought the BlackCap veteran, who has hit 95 career sixes, might try and go out with a bang.
At stumps, Atkinson explained the thinking, “Yeah, we fully went for the bluff.He’s someone that even on a hat-trick ball might take it on but I was just thinking about bowling a yorker, just full and straight, I missed a bit but thankfully it still ended up straight and relatively full and hit him on the pad.” Despite a futile review Southee was on his way, New Zealand had capitulated to 125 all out and Atkinson had three-in-three.
The Surrey man’s heroics meant he became the first England bowler since Moeen Ali versus South Africa in 2017 to take a hat-trick in Test cricket and it was the first overseas since Ryan Sidebottom in Napier in 2008. And for what it’s worth, it was Atkinson’s first since 2015 when he took one in a school match. While he remembers that achievement in the whites of Whitgift fondly - “The one at school I did enjoy a lot” - unsurprisingly, it’s now been topped: “but this was a lot better.”
Gus Atkinson etched his name in history as the 14th England bowler, and the first since Moeen Ali in 2017, to register a hat-trick in men's Tests.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 7, 2024
Check the full list here ➡️ https://t.co/51WWWqZiQK pic.twitter.com/S3kis5iG4m
It's been a phenomenal introduction to Test cricket for the 26-year-old, he took a ten-wicket haul on debut at Lord’s in July against the West Indies, took five-wickets and scored a century against Sri Lanka in August and now has a hat-trick to his name. When asked what he thought was more difficult to achieve, a hat-trick or a hundred, Atkinson didn’t even pause, “A hundred, definitely.” He joins Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad as the only living Englishmen who have achieved both, 19th century spinner Johnny Briggs completing the most exclusive of clubs.
Considering the England paceman is only halfway through his tenth Test match, you really have to pinch yourself when weighing up such a glittering and growing list of achievements, but does he? “Yeah a bit but you always want to get more and be greedy and take as many as you can and that’s something I’m going to try and do in the future, obviously it’s been a great year for me personally and hopefully I can get a few more milestones and help the team.”
Atkinson is not the only recent recruit to Ben Stokes' side to hit the ground running. Shoab Bashir and Rehan Ahmed were plucked from relative obscurity to make stellar starts to their Test careers and Jacob Bethell, who batted quite beautifully today for 96 (his highest ever first-class score) now has two half centuries in as many matches. So, what is it about the environment of this England set-up which makes it so easy for people to come into and for them to thrive immediately?
“There’s no pressure on any of us, it’s just to go out and play our natural game. I probably didn’t have the stats for Test cricket before I played, I know Beth hasn’t scored a first class hundred, but I just think the environment of no-pressure and just go and play your own game and don’t worry too much about the outcome has helped myself and I’m sure it’s helped the others as well.”
England’s newest hat-trick hero now has 47 Test wickets at just 21.30, you wouldn’t bet against him ticking off another milestone tomorrow and reach 50 as England go in search of what now looks to be an inevitable victory and a chance to clinch the series at the earliest opportunity.
