Written by Newbury Today, published Tuesday 10 September

'The 26-year-old learned his trade at the West Berkshire school, and he went on to make his County Championship debut for Surrey at the age of 22.

And this year Atkinson has burst onto the international scene.

Having taken 33 wickets across the five Test matches (including three five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul) against West Indies and Sri Lanka, he showed his class with the bat as well by scoring a maiden first-class century at Lord’s to help England secure the series win over Sri Lanka last week.

Atkinson, who was awarded Player of the Match for that second test against Sri Lanka, was praised by captain Ollie Pope who says his teammate is “smashing it so far in his test career”.

This followed his Player of the Series Award for his outstanding performances against West Indies earlier in the summer.

Atkinson attended Bradfield College from 2011-2016 and the Master in Charge of Cricket at Bradfield, Mike Hill, spoke about his former pupil.

He said: “ We actually didn’t know too much about him and to many people’s surprise he wasn’t a sports scholar.

“He had a tranquil first year and it was only in his second year that he started scoring runs.

“We noticed his batting initially rather than his bowling.”

Hill added: “The commentary talks about him being a quiet, humble guy and he was exactly that at school too.

“There was no arrogance or strutting around, but a very calm character.

“He got stuck into all aspects of school life, was a great mate to a lot of boys in the boarding house, and on the cricket field, and was very popular amongst his peers.

“He never became this big, noisy character that so many do.”

Soon Atkinson was making his mark and showed his potential on his first XI debut for Bradfield as a 15-year-old against the Oratory School.

Hill said: “His bowling was really sharp and playing against older kids was when we first really took serious notice of his ability.”

Hill also admitted: “To be honest, we didn’t think that he was going to make it to the top and he would be happy to admit that himself.

“We didn’t believe that he had the determination of others around him.

“As a youngster, it was his mother that would do the hard work to ensure her son played and it didn’t come from him.

“When his mother passed away four years ago, that’s when he decided that he would take his cricket as far as he could. To make her proud.”

Hill says he takes great pride in the cricket programme on offer at Bradfield College.

With four professional coaches providing group and one-to-one sessions over the winter, it is an elite programme that helps players to develop their abilities quickly.

Atkinson would spend 15-20 hours a week with the coaches throughout each winter, with those hours increasing during the summer months.

Atkinson had been a regular for Surrey’s 2nd XI during his later school days before rising through the ranks and winning the LV=County Championship Division One with Surrey CCC in 2022.

Atkinson is also a key player for the Oval Invincibles as part of The Hundred and became an England player for the first time in 2022 after receiving a call-up to the ODI and T20 squads ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup in 2023.

Fast forward to this summer, and Atkinson is widely regarded as England’s newest star player.

Atkinson has had a tremendous start in trying to stamp his place into England’s teams across all formats of the game, and all eyes will be firmly placed on selection for The Ashes when England tour Australia in 2025.'