So who is Gus Atkinson? A Chelsea fan, (no, that’s just an assumption, since he was born in Chelsea), he made heads turn in the 2023 edition of The Hundred and then made those heads rotate as he was announced in the ODI World Cup squad of England to follow that year. The reason was given by Ben Stokes, who was impressed by the 26-year old’s breakthrough performances in red-ball cricket, albeit little and wanted raw pace as early as possible in the national side. And on Wednesday, the Lord’s crowd witnessed what raw pace can do. Raw pace could swing the ball like a banana, cut the ball across the batters with zip and bowl the short ball with venom. So much so, that former England selector Sir Andrew Strauss waited no more than a moment to answer Nasser Hussain’s question on air – ‘Would you have him in your side Down Under?’ ‘Yep, I would’, was the reply.