Gus Atkinson: 'When people ask for a group photo, I'm getting used to the fact they also want me in it'

Gus Atkinson's career has long been spent six feet from stardom. A product of Surrey, where the streets are paved with gold if not playing opportunities, made for plenty of time spent with international players off the pitch, even if until recently it didn't translate into time spent together on it.

But in less than a year Atkinson has gone from outside the Surrey team to an England debut, to a World Cup, to a central contract, to an IPL deal and now to the Test squad. Fame and money change lives. So how has life changed for Atkinson?

"Errr…" England's newest fast bowler contemplates. "When people ask for a group photo, I'm getting used to the fact they also want me in it."

Group photos, taps on the shoulder on the bus home, and the occasional calls of "Gus" in the street are mundane reminders of the extraordinary: that he is now an all-format England player.

"It's a difficult one," Atkinson reflects on his ascent. "Because I don't want to say I feel like I'm where I should be. But I don't think you can look at it and say, 'Oh, he wasn't even getting into the Surrey team six months ago. Why is he playing for England?' Because I feel like I should be an England player, and I am an England player."

A lack of quantity in games over the last year was more than made up for by the quality of results. Atkinson played in only five of Surrey's County Championship fixtures, but 20 wickets arrived at an average of 20.20. And then, in the Hundred, his ten wickets came at just 17 apiece, as did a spell at England's white-ball captain Jos Buttler that registered 95mph on the speed gun.

"I know people are sceptical of the speed guns at times," Sam Billings, his captain at Oval Invicibles, said back in August. "But that's as quick as I've kept to in a very long time."

"We haven't really spoken about that spell," Atkinson says of his tussle with Buttler. But not for any reasons of humility. "I mean… I also bowled a beamer. So we've had a joke about that."

In an illustration of how the modern game works and of the non-traditional routes now available to players to reach international cricket, Atkinson first seriously turned heads in England thanks to his performances in the ILT20 for Desert Vipers. The same tournament that forced the ECB's hand in creating multi-year contracts, after Mark Wood was offered £400,000 to play in the second edition, has also given them their next 90mph-plus seamer.

Once Atkinson returned home, England coaches started appearing at Surrey 2nd XI games to have a look, and so too their first-team outings.

Atkinson's run of stellar performances have continued in an England shirt. In September he claimed the best figures by an England player on T20I debut; in November he left the World Cup of Carnage with his reputation intact; and in December he was the leading wicket-taker during the ODI series against West Indies.

"There were obviously a few nerves but I wasn't too nervous," Atkinson says, reflecting on his England debut. "David Saker [bowling coach] said to me, 'Just do what you've been doing.' But, you know, the batters are a bit better.

"But then I was like, well, yeah. But these guys have all been playing in the Hundred and whatever, so it's just the same, except I'm wearing a different shirt. So that's how I tried to treat it, and it worked out pretty well."

India, of course, will represent a different challenge. Their players are barred by the BCCI from playing in overseas tournaments such as the Hundred, which means that Atkinson will be facing up to the might of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for the first time.

By his own admission, maintaining his pace throughout the India tour will be his greatest challenge. For the first time in his career, managing his travel and workload has become something to consider. Following Harry Brook's withdrawal from the India tour, Atkinson is now the only player on the trip who also featured in the World Cup squad as well as both legs of the West Indies tour.

"People talk about your pace and you get picked because you can bowl quick," he says. "You have to, and you want to, bowl quick, so that's definitely something that I'm going to focus on. Short, sharp spells in India is probably the way I imagine it going. Sort of an impact bowler."

Atkinson's selection for India was cause for celebration, if not surprise, for the 26-year-old. Throughout the World Cup, Atkinson had been getting a nudge in the ribs from his peers who reckoned he'd get the nod, while his long-standing friendship with Test vice-captain Ollie Pope meant any concerns he had about missing out were assuaged with reminders that it was looking good.

But you never know you've got the job until you've got it. And it was during the West Indies tour that he woke up to a voice note from Brendon McCullum.

"Test cricket is the one that you look at as a kid and think, yeah, that's the pinnacle. But, you know, I try to stay as level as possible and just sort of treat a call-up as a call-up, which is obviously an exciting thing.

"I think more for my Dad, he was very happy. He loves Test cricket and he lives in Dubai, so even if I'm not playing, I'm sure he'll be trying to come out as much as he can.

"[My brother and sister] didn't come out for the World Cup, but I'm sure they might try the Test series. I think they enjoy me playing for England. My sister is always watching the games, and my brother as well."

Atkinson's professional revolution is all the more admirable for coming in the context of personal tragedy. Three months after his Surrey debut in 2020, his mother Caroline, who had been vital to him remaining in the county's pathway, was killed in a car crash.

"It's difficult," Atkinson says of experiencing such a level of success without a person so central to its cause. "When it happened I sort of said, my career can go one of two ways. You can sort of fall off a bit and stuff, but you know, I didn't want to let that happen.

"It's very special, but it's also sad, because it'd be amazing for her to see where I am now. I'm sure she'd be loving it."