England Pacer Gus Atkinson smashes his maiden test century on day 02 of the second test in the Sri Lanka tour of England 2024. Atkinson’s sparkling 118 runs helped England to score 427 by the end of their innings. Joe Root scored 143 runs on Thursday to equal Alastair Cook’s record of 33 Test Hundreds.
Atkinson has been impressive with bowling skills since his test debut but has also assisted the side with the bat on day 01 as he came into Friday not out on 74. The start from the England star was stunning and it sort of set the tone for him early on.
Sticking to the Bazball method, Atkinson started the day with no measures and 2 consecutive boundaries off Lahiru Kumara, before being adjudged dismissal on the third ball of the day.
The smile from Gus Atkinson says it all 😁 pic.twitter.com/gn7eQDvi0S
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 30, 2024
However, a review saved him and the England star wouldn’t look back after that. The next two overs from Milan Rathnayake and Kumara saw Atkinson smashing two more boundaries and race into the 90s.
The 93rd over from Kumara would see Atkinson start things with a boundary, before hitting another one to get to score a hundred.
Atkinson came in with England bothering day 01 and quickly helped them consolidate and post a challenging total at Lord’s. Atkinson finally got dismissed after scoring 118 runs off 115 balls, thanks to a smart catch from Rathnayake. His innings consisted of 14 boundaries and 4 sixes.
Some of the shots from Atkinson on Days 01 and 02 of the Lords did get the fans talking because of his similar technique to the great all-rounder Jacques Kallis. Joe Root scored 143 on Day 01, helping Ollie Pope lead the side to score 427 runs in the first innings.
“I’ll tell you why it was good watching Gussy bat at the end, being at the other end when he hit those straight sixes, they were unbelievable. It’s like watching someone like Jacques Kallis play.”
“It was a great little innings from him, and there were some good partnerships along the way and we’ve found ourselves in a really good position now,” Root said in a video uploaded by ECB.
