Gus Atkinson withdrawn by ECB ahead of Hundred Final
The England Cricket Board (ECB) has pulled off Gus Atkinson from participation in the 2024 Men’s Hundred Grand Finale on August 18 to focus on the upcoming Sri Lanka Test series. This serves as an additional blow to Oval Invincibles after Spencer Johnson was ruled out of the tournament previously.
Atkinson, who scalped 22 wickets in the recently-concluded red-ball series against West Indies played just a solitary game in the ongoing Hundred. He returned with figures of 0/28 in two sets against Trent Rockets after Tom Curran was rested on Wednesday.
"Gus has been withdrawn, which is quite understandable. It's disappointing for him but Saqib Mahmood has been phenomenal for us all tournament and showed his class the other night. He'll stay in the side." said Sam Billings, the Oval skipper.
Previously, the ECB pulled Chris Woakes out of the tourney in a similar fashion for the forthcoming Test series. Ben Stokes’ injury in a recent Northern Superchargers match is the primary cause of the hara-kiri decisions from the governing body.
The ECB is focusing on workload management of its contracted players after Stokes’ injury last week. Jofra Archer, who missed a couple of league stage encounters will be available for the rest of the Hundred for the Southern Brave amidst managing back and elbow issues.
Ben Duckett (Birmingham Phoenix), Jamie Smith (Birmingham Phoenix), and Jordan Cox (Oval Invincibles) are the three players who are set to feature in the knockout affairs despite being a part of England’s Test squad against Sri Lanka.
"I've been in that position before where as a young player, you get withdrawn and miss out on playing time. For anyone to play in a final at Lord's in the leading domestic competition in the country, in front of a packed house is perfect preparation for international cricket,” Billings added.
The first of the three-match Test series is going to take place from August 21 at Old Trafford, Manchester with the next two set to be staged at Lord’s and Kennington Oval.
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