- Atkinson added a Test hat-trick to his international record
- He has settled well into the team and became the 14th England player to achieve the feat.
- England were already on top heading into the second day of the second Test.
Gus Atkinson bagged England’s first Test match hat-trick in seven years as he dodged New Zealand’s tail on day two in Wellington.
The Surrey seamer had enjoyed an impressive start to his life with the England Whites, already scoring five fer, 10 fer and a century in his nine matches ahead of the ongoing second Test.
But things got even better in the morning session of the second day, when he took to the bowling field alongside Brydon Carse in what finally looks to be a leading partnership established for Ben Stokes’ side.
New Zealand, looking all out to sea and a team a million miles away from the one that won in India just a few weeks ago, were five wickets down entering the second day after England scored 280 with the bat.
They would have hoped to put up more of a fight than they have so far in this series, but Tom Blundell and William O’Rourke were thrown out of Carse’s bowling early on.
And then there was the Atkinson show. He took the wickets of first Nathan Smith, then Matt Henry and finally Tim Southee to achieve another historic feat in an England shirt.
Gus Atkinson became the first England player to score a hat-trick in a Test match in seven years.
The seamer wagged New Zealand’s tail to achieve the feat and add to his growing list of international achievements.
He was mobbed by his teammates after picking up Tim Southee’s final wicket.
New Zealand scored 86 for five overnight, under pressure to close in on England’s 280 after Carse, Atkinson, Stokes and Chris Woakes were on the wickets.
But Carse did more damage early and Atkinson first bowled to keeper Blundell before bowling Smith the next ball.
With his teammates around the bat and the crowd behind him, the 26-year-old Chelsea player had Southee lbw before being mobbed by his teammates.
England boast the most Test hat-tricks of any team in the game, scoring 15 in total from 14 different players.
Atkinson was the first for England since Moeen Ali’s against South Africa in July 2017, and the first by any player since Keshav Maharaj’s for South Africa against the West Indies in 2021.
Other England players to have achieved the feat include Stuart Broad in both 2011 and 2014, the only player in the team to have achieved the feat twice, Ryan Sidebottom and Matthew Hoggard.