‘Smashed it’: Atkinson earns Pope praise after taking 5-62 to join England elite

England’s stand-in captain, Ollie Pope, paid tribute to Gus Atkinson after his pace bowler – or should that be all‑rounder? – secured his side a series win against Sri Lanka. After a maiden hundred on the second day, Atkinson, the player of the match, was back on the honours board at Lord’s with five for 62 on the fourth and final day. He joined Tony Greig and Ian Botham as only the third England player to take a five-fer and score a century in the same men’s Test.
“He’s obviously smashed it so far in his Test career,” Pope said of Atkinson, who now averages 18.06 with the ball and 32.66 with the bat in his five-Test career. Lord’s has proved a particularly happy hunting ground for the 26-year-old, after he took 12 wickets on his debut here against West Indies.
“I think, especially with the Lord’s slope, that’s something where you can challenge both edges,” Pope said. “And I’d say that’s why he’s had so much success here. Anyone who’s operating towards that 90mph mark with a bit of swing … I’m sure people have seen he bowls a heavy wobble ball, which finds a bit of nip as well.”
Atkinson himself thought he had bowled better in England’s previous Test series against West Indies. “I think the Hundred took it out of me more than I thought as I was mentally fried,” he said. “But today I felt like I had more energy, so I bowled a lot better and could back that up in the second innings.”
Pope described England’s performance against Sri Lanka, wrapping up the series in eight days, as “very pleasing”, adding: “As a team it’s exactly what we want to be like. We want to drive forward our good positions into great positions.”
His personal failure to contribute with the bat since assuming the captaincy – he scored one and 17 in this match, after scores of six and six at Old Trafford – has attracted plenty of discussion, which Pope said was not surprising. “It’s just important to block it out and keep close with the people around you. There’s a lot of voices, a lot of guys who want to have their say, some past cricketers as well.”
After the first day of this second Test, the BBC’s Michael Vaughan called Pope “an insecure human being” and “not the kind of personality” he wanted as England captain. Pope said: “Sometimes when you have two bad games, it can almost feel a lot worse than it is because of the noise that’s around it. So for me it’s just trying to stay as level as I can and keep trusting the people around me, put my work in and not really overthinking it.”