England pacer Gus Atkinson continued the dream start to his Test career during the third Test against New Zealand at the Seddon Park in Hamilton as he took three wickets on the first day of play with the important dismissals of Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, and Tim Southee as the visitors aim to seal a historic 3-0 whitewash.

Atkinson played the first test of his career against West Indies earlier this year at Lord's in July and set the record for the fourth-best bowling figures on debut in history with 12 wickets. His seven-wicket haul in the first innings was the second-best performance by a debutant for England.

The dismissal of Mitchell on Saturday (December 14) saw Atkinson create history and complete 50 wickets in 2024. He is only the second bowler after Jasprit Burmah to achieve the feat this year.

However, Atkinson became the second player in history to take 50 wickets in the calendar year of the player's debut. The only other instance of the same happening came 43 years ago when Australia's Terry Alderman took 55 wickets in 1981. England spinner Shoaib Bashir can also achieve the same feat in the Hamilton Test with 47 wickets to his name in 2024 so far.

Player	Year of Test Debut	Wickets In Year of Test Debut
Terry Alderman	1981	55
Gus Atkinson	2024	51
Curtly Ambrose	1988	49
Jasprit Bumrah	2018	48
Shoaib Bashir	2024	47

Atkinson took a hat-trick in the second Test of the series. In his short Test career, he also has a century after a memorable knock against Sri Lanka at Lord's earlier this year. The 26-year-old is only the 7th player in Test cricket history after Johnny Briggs, Irfan Patham, Moeen Ali, Wasim Akram, Stuart Broad, and Harbhajan Singh to complete the unique treble of taking a 10-wicket haul, registering a hat-trick, and scoring a century in the longest format of the game.

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