England debutant almost breaks 128-year record as he rips through West Indies

Anderson, 41, looked emotional as a touching montage paying tribute to his incredible career was played out at Lord’s and his wife and two children rang the bell to signify the start of play.

He was unable to add to his 700 Test wickets in his first spell but Atkinson got off the mark immediately before nicking off West Indies No. 3 Kirk McKenzie.

England captain Ben Stokes took the only other wicket before lunch – Mikyle Louis also caught in the slips – before the tourists lost seven wickets for 33 runs in an extraordinary period of play after the interval.

Atkinson had Alick Athanaze and Jason Holder caught in the slips in successive deliveries before celebrating a third wicket in the space of four balls, Joshua Da Silva edging behind to fellow England debutant Jamie Smith.

Chris Woakes got in on the act to claim his 150th Test wicket when Ollie Pope superbly held on to a crunching Kavem Hodge cut shot to leave the Windies 88-7.

Alzarri Joseph smashed four boundaries before becoming Atkinson’s sixth victim and the Surrey man was on the verge of claiming the best-ever figures from a Test debutant when he bounced out Shamar Joseph two balls later.

Atkinson was denied the chance to take an eighth scalp by Anderson, who finally took a wicket in his 11th over, trapping Jayden Seales lbw to wrap up the innings, West Indies bowled out for just 121.

Atkinson’s 7-45 was the 11th best figures in an innings by a Test debutant and the second best from an Englishman behind Dominic Cork, who took 7-43, also against West Indies, in 1995.

‘He has been very, very impressive. He has varied his length and on a slow pitch he has looked threatening in a way the other seamers have not. It has been phenomenal to watch.’

England Ashes legend Michael Vaughan, meanwhile, believe Atkinson benefited from ‘going under the radar’ as the build-up to his debut was overshadowed by Anderson’s imminent retirement.

‘All the build-up around Jimmy might’ve helped the likes of Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith because they’ve gone under the radar a bit, it’s allowed them to just crack on,’ he said on BBC Test Match Special.

‘But that’s a very promising start from Atkinson. He bowled with good zip and pace at the first time of asking. For a long time now England have wanted to build this crop of fast bowlers and he has delivered.

‘From West Indies’ point of view, that was poor. Yes, they are inexperienced, but they are better than that. There were some poor shots, the decision-making wasn’t there.

‘It was always going to be the case that their batting line-up was going to be the weaker point but they have got such a good bowling attack, that if they can manage to put some runs on the board at some point, they will cause problems.’

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