Gus Atkinson has been adjudged the ICC Men's Player of the Month for July. The 26-year-old England pacer enjoyed a month full of wickets and played an instrumental role in helping his team inflict a clean sweep on West Indies in the three-match Test series.
Atkinson ripped the West Indian batting order to shreds in the first match of the series at Lord's. The right-arm speedster claimed a seven-wicket haul in the first innings and then backed it up with another five-wicket haul in the second innings. Atkinson was awarded the Player of the Match (POTM) for bagging figures of 12/106 as England trounced West Indies by an innings and 114 runs.
The express pacer bagged four wickets in the second Test match and England won the second Test match by 241 runs.
He was back to his near best in the third Test and snared six scalps that helped England sweep West Indies by 10 wickets. Atkinson bowled a total of 88.5 overs and bagged 22 wickets while conceding 357 runs at an average of 16.22. His series performance included a four-wicket haul and two five-fors.
“It is a real privilege to win the ICC Player of the Month! The start to my Test career has been unbelievable, and I never imagined achieving this level of success in my first series with England," Atkinson told the International Cricket Council (ICC) after winning the award.
“I am incredibly grateful to my teammates and the fantastic environment created by Baz (Brendon McCullum) and Stokesy (Ben Stokes).
“It's an honour to play and represent my country. I know there is a lot of hard work ahead, especially with a big series against Sri Lanka coming up. I'm excited to maintain consistency and do my best to help England succeed,” the 6ft tall fast bowler added.
