Atkinson dazzles to put England on top before rain stops play in fifth cricket test against India

By Canadian Press on July 31, 2025.

LONDON (AP) — Some excellent fielding from Gus Atkinson put England on top before rain stopped play on Day 1 of the fifth and final cricket test against India at The Oval on Thursday.

Fast bowler Atkinson sprinted to gather the ball in his follow through before throwing the wicket down to run out India captain Shubman Gill, who has amassed more than 700 runs in the series, for 21.

When the rain intervened for the second time in the day, India was precariously positioned on 85-3 with Sai Sudharsan 28 not out and Karun Nair unbeaten on nought.

Earlier, stand-in England captain Ollie Pope won the toss and decided to put India into bat.

The home team struck first with the score on 10-0, Atkinson cutting the ball in from outside the off stump to trap Yashasvi Jaiswal lbw for 2.

Fellow opener KL Rahul then bottom-edged an attempted cut shot off Chris Woakes onto his off stump to leave India on 38-2.

Pope is leading the England team in the absence of Ben Stokes, who is absent with a sore shoulder and was replaced in the side by Jacob Bethell.

Atkinson, Jamie Overton and Josh Tongue also replaced Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Liam Dawson in the bowling attack.

“There’s a bit more grass in the wicket this week, overcast conditions, it’s a no- brainer to bowl first,” Pope said.

India made four changes to its team with Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna coming in for Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and Anshul Kamboj.

Gill lost the toss for the fifth time in the series, meaning India has now gone 15 successive international matches without winning it.

“As long as we are winning the match I don’t mind losing the toss,” Gill said. “The wicket looks good so post runs in the first innings and take it from there.”

England leads the series 2-1.

Lineups:

England: Crawley, Duckett, Pope (captain), Root, Brook, Bethell, Smith, Woakes, Overton, Atkinson, Tongue.

India: Jaiswal, Rahul, Nair, Gill, Sudharsan, Jadeja, Sundar, Jurel, Deep, Siraj, Krishna.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

The Associated Press