Gus Atkinson has been released from England's Test squad facing India at Lord's in order to play club cricket for his boyhood team.
Atkinson was added to England's squad for the third Test after recovering from a hamstring injury which kept him out of both the matches at Headingley and Edgbaston. He did not make the final playing XI, with Jofra Archer instead returning alongside Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse. Atkinson stayed with the squad for the first two days of the Test, running the drinks and training.
However, he will not be at the ground for the third day (July 12), and will instead turn out for South London club Spencer CC.
Going with the team sheet early this week! Our last trip to @SunburyCricket in 2014 was Gus Atkinson’s 1st XI league debut. So it seems appropriate he is back for his first appearance in a Spencer shirt for 6 years is tomorrow against the same opponents. pic.twitter.com/JoKKWn8ctt
— Spencer_Scorer (@Spencer_Scorer) July 11, 2025
It will be Atkinson's first appearance for the side since 2019, well before he made his England debut in 2023. His earliest recorded appearance for the club came in 2013, when he would have been 15 years old, when he took two wickets and batted at No.5 for the club's 5th XI.
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Sunday's fixture sees Atkinson in Spencer's first XI, playing against Sunbury CC at the Goeff Key Memorial Ground in Kempton in the Premier Division of the Surrey Championship. From his first spell of the game, Atkinson conceded 17 runs from four overs without taking a wicket.
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