Gus Atkinson takes five-wicket haul in collapse

Gus Atkinson took a five-wicket haul on his England return as India collapsed to 224 all out in the fifth and deciding Test on Friday despite the hosts being without the injured Chris Woakes.

England, 2-1 up in the series, saw paceman Woakes effectively ruled out of the rest of the match before play resumed at the Oval after he suffered a shoulder injury when diving in an attempt to prevent a boundary on Thursday.

That left England a bowler down, with substitutes permitted to field but not bat or bowl.

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Atkinson, one of a trio of recalled England quicks following last week’s drawn fourth Test at Old Trafford, responded with a superb return of 5-33 in 21.4 overs on his Surrey home ground after striking twice on Thursday.

India, who resumed on 204-6, lost their last four wickets for just 20 more runs in 5.4 overs on Friday.

The four wickets fell within just six runs and 18 balls.

“Gus Atkinson can do no wrong in an England shirt,” Sir Alastair Cook said on the BBC.

In reply, openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley opted to put the foot on India’s throat. They put on 92 runs for the opening partnership inside 13 overs before Duckett was caught behind off Akash Deep in comical fashion, playing a reverse ramp.

After the wicket, Deep opted to give Duckett a send-off as he placed his arm around the batter and offered him a few words — a move Michael Atherton described in commentary as “unnecessary”

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“I’m not so sure the bowler should be putting his arm around the bowler having got him out, regardless of whether that is in good spirits or not,” Atherton said.

“He was rightly dragged away.”

England was 1-109 at lunch, trailing by 115 runs.

Earlier, Karun Nair, 52 not out overnight, had added just five runs to his innings topscore when he was plumb lbw to a straight delivery from Josh Tongue.

India’s 218-7 soon became 220-8 when Sundar, fresh from a maiden Test century at Old Trafford, fell for 26 when he carelessly hooked an Atkinson short ball to Jamie Overton at deep square leg.

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Sundar sank to his knees in disbelief and Atkinson then polished off the tail, bowling Mohammed Siraj for nought before he ended the innings when Prasidh Krishna was also out for a duck, caught behind by Jamie Smith.

England captain Ben Stokes, the leading wicket-taker in this series, had already been ruled out of the match with a shoulder injury.

Pacemen Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse were also omitted from the England line-up at the Oval following their previous workload in this series.

Fellow quick Mark Wood is a long-term England absentee, while Olly Stone is only just returning to fitness following a knee injury.

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