England pacer Gus Atkinson set to miss The Hundred final

London [UK], August 17 (ANI): England pacer Gus Atkinson will miss the final of the men's Hundred ahead for their upcoming three-match Test series against Sri Lanka. In his debut Test series against the West Indies, Atkinson took 22 wickets and was crowned as the Player of the Series. In The Hundred, Atkinson featured for the Oval Invincibles once and registered figures of 0 for 28 in 10 balls against Trent Rockets.

"Gus has been withdrawn, which is quite understandable. It's disappointing for him but Saqib Mahmood has been phenomenal for us all tournament and showed his class the other night. He'll stay in the side," the Invincibles' captain, Sam Billings, said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

The Invincibles are struggling with injuries as Australia pacer Spencer Johnson sustained an injury while playing for the franchise. But the Invincibles will get some reprieve as Tom Curran will return after being rested on Wednesday. England all-rounder Chris Woakes has already been withdrawn from the competition. However, Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett (both Birmingham Phoenix) and Jordan Cox (Invincibles) are available for the remaining two matches this weekend.

If Southern Brave qualify, England pacer Jofra Archer who is slowly being introduced to red-ball cricket will be available for Saturday's eliminator and Sunday's final. The path back hasn't been easy for Archer - since 2021, he has encountered multiple obstacles, including stress fractures, persistent elbow problems and even surgery due to an accident.

Archer was made unavailable for the two games in the group-stage games to manage his workload. But Brave skipper James Vince is not expecting any other restriction.

"I've not heard otherwise, so I'm hoping that's the case. Obviously we've got tomorrow to take care of first, but as I understand it, he is available for both should we make the final. I can't give you 100 per cent confirmation because I don't know that myself, to be honest. But there's not much travel involved and it's only 20 balls [per match] so I'm sure he'll be fine," Vince said. (ANI)