England fast bowler Gus Atkinson has said he does not want to move higher up the batting order despite scoring his maiden century in a Test against Sri Lanka. Gus Atkinson has admitted he is happy batting at number eight in England’s Test line-up and would consider batting higher up in the future.

Atkinson showcased his batting skills in international cricket for the first time during the ODI World Cup match against South Africa. The right-handed batsman scored 35 runs off 21 balls in England’s heavy defeat. He also scored a pair of 21 in his debut Test series against the West Indies at home.

The bowler was promoted to No. 8 due to the absence of captain Ben Stokes. He scored 118 runs in 115 balls as England posted 427 runs. Atkinson became the first England lower-order batsman (positions 8 to 11) to score a century since Stuart Broad’s 169 in 2010, excluding the innings with nightwatchmen.

I haven’t given it much thought – Gus Atkinson

After the second day of play, Gus Atkinson spoke about his batting position. Atkinson said that he is satisfied with his current batting position at No. 8 in Test cricket.

“I’m happy with eighth; eighth is good. I haven’t thought about it too much… Obviously not being able to play Stokesy in this series gave me the opportunity to bat at No. 8 and thankfully I got a century. From now on, I’d obviously like to bat as high as possible,” Atkinson said. He was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

The 26-year-old cricketer said he was frustrated that he had not scored many runs for Surrey. Atkinson mentioned that he has a lot of natural ability with the bat and added that it was one of those days when everything went right.

“I’ve been frustrated with my batting this year – I haven’t scored many runs for Surrey but I know how good a player I can be. I feel I’ve got a lot of natural ability with the bat and I felt I was moving really well and hitting the ball really cleanly. It was one of those days where everything just goes right,” he added.

It was pure euphoria – Gus Atkinson

Gus Atkinson had not scored a hundred in first-class cricket before the Lord’s Test match. He described the experience as one of pure euphoria and relief, adding that it was quite a surreal moment for him.

“It was pure euphoria. I was so happy, so relieved. It was a pretty surreal moment. I was very happy.” [last night]”I had already scored 70-something, so I tried not to put too much pressure on myself: if it went out, it went out. I just wanted to keep playing like I did yesterday.”

After scoring a century, Atkinson also took two wickets as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 196 in their first innings. England ended the day on 25-1 in their second innings, with a substantial lead of 256 runs.

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