Gus Atkinson, back in the England XI after eight weeks on the sidelines, needed just 33 deliveries on Friday morning to turn India’s 204 for 6 into 224 all out. The Surrey quick finished with 5 for 33 – his fourth Test five-for – and, more to the point, allowed England to forget about Chris Woakes’s dodgy shoulder for a little while.
Josh Tongue actually started the damage. His first over, sprayed for nine, looked like trouble, yet the next produced the ball of the morning: one that jagged back into Karun Nair, rapping him on the back pad for 57. Nair burned a review on the way. Tongue’s method can look chaotic – plenty of width, then a snorter – but it worked.
With India’s recognised batting all but done, Washington Sundar had a clear brief to marshal the tail. Five balls later he was gone, dragging a chest-high short one from Atkinson to Jamie Overton at deep square. “It was set up the ball before,” Overton said between innings, “so I was half-ready for the pull.”
Atkinson was in no mood to delay things. Mohammed Siraj lost his off stump to a full, fast one; Prasidh Krishna poked at one angled across him and edged behind. Four wickets had vanished for six runs in just 18 balls, leaving India with the lowest first-innings total of this series – the previous low being 358 at Old Trafford.
The numbers say plenty about Atkinson’s impact. He now averages 21 in Test cricket, fourth-best among England seamers with 50 or more wickets. Only one of them, by the way, strikes more often: his 34.9 balls per wicket sit second on the all-time England list.
For England, the equation is simple enough: bat once, bat big, and let the bowlers – whoever’s still standing – finish the job. India, meanwhile, have a bit of time to wonder how a promising first evening slipped away so quickly.
