The right-arm pacer has played 13 Tests so far.
We are less than a month away from the much-anticipated Ashes 2025 Down Under. The England team will soon be on the flight to Australia and hope to return with the urn. The mind games have started, and the experts have already predicted the series scoreline. Chris Woakes, who recently announced his retirement, said that Gus Atkinson should be bowling longer spells and step into a new role. He wishes Atkinson to play a more Ben Stokes role in Australia.
In a recent Stick to Cricket podcast by The Overlap Cricket, the former England pacer expressed his opinions on the bowling line-up. The visitors have declared the squad for the coveted series. Though Woakes seems all right with the options, he voiced that Ben Stokes needs to manage his workload to last the entire series. Thereby, the 36-year-old Gus Atkinson should transform into the role of his skipper.
Stokes bowled a lot of overs in the home series against India, and it was evident that it took a toll on his fitness. Atkinson, on the other hand, has shown the ability to bowl longer spells, and that is exactly what his former teammate wants him to do. However, England will have to make sure that they assign roles well enough before the series gets underway.
Chris Woakes is clear on the fact that he would not want Ben Stokes to take up the maximum of the bowling workload. The English skipper is extremely vital to their chances with the bat as well, and they would want him to stay fit throughout the series. The other pacers can share the workload amongst themselves. For longer spells, Woakes suggested Atkinson because he has been bowling long spells for a long period of time with good accuracy.
“As an England fan, I would not want Ben Stokes to bowl really longer spells”, Chris Woakes summed up.
But there might be a slight concern. Alastair Cook, another speaker in the podcast, expressed that Atkinson is more of a hit-the-deck type of bowler. Though the bounce and carry on the Australian pitches would be good, the Englishmen need a bowler who can bowl long spells with the fuller line. If Atkinson can do that, it would be game-changing for the visitors. The back will have to be bent a little less for a fuller delivery than hitting the deck. And that is where Gus Atkinson will have to adjust.
Watch the full podcast here:
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Going the extra mile, the former skipper, Alastair, opined that the visitors could have included Sam Cook in the squad. The right-arm pacer has been a sensational bowler in the domestic circuit and represents Essex in First-Class cricket.
In 93 FC matches, he has scalped 328 wickets at an economy of 2.67, which speaks volumes of his control. To add to that, he holds four 10-wicket hauls to his name. As of that was going to be enough for the 28-year-old, Sam has also registered 14 five-wicket hauls and 12 four-wicket hauls.
What separates him from the rest is his skiddy nature across the wicket. Sam is known to rattle the batters with his slippery medium pace, and can also move the ball both ways. On Australian decks, this could have been a lethal combination to have. But all said and done, England have a good pace attack and will back their bowlers to get them 20 wickets each game.
Ben Stokes (captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (vice-captain), Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Josh Tongue, and Mark Wood.
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