An England player will miss the fifth and final Ashes test against Australia in Sydney, having featured in three of the four previous tests.
England finally had something to shout about when they beat Australia in Melbourne on Saturday (December 27), to make it 3-1 after four tests.
Ahead of the Boxing Day Test, Brendon McCullum’s side made two changes, with Jacob Bethell replacing Ollie Pope due to the Surrey batsman struggling for runs on the tour.
Fast bowler Gus Atkinson came in for the injured Jofra Archer in Melbourne, while Josh Tongue played his second test of the series and made a positive impact, taking seven wickets in the match, with five of these coming in the first innings.
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With Archer ruled out of the fifth and final test, and Mark Wood also sidelined - having not played since the first test in Perth - Tongue will likely retain his spot.
But McCullum and the selectors now face a further issue as Gus Atkinson has been ruled out of the final test.
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Atkinson took three wickets and made 28 runs in the fourth test but appeared to suffer a hamstring injury at the end of the fourth over of his spell on the second morning of the Melbourne test before leaving the field.
The 27-year-old also played in Perth and Brisbane, but was left out of the third test in Adelaide and was replaced by Tongue.
England posted a statement to confirm the news early on Monday (December 29).
“England Men’s seamer Gus Atkinson has been ruled out for the remainder of the Ashes tour after scans confirmed he has sustained a left hamstring injury,” the statement read.
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“The Surrey right-armer left the field after bowling his fifth over of Australia’s second innings during England’s victory at the MCG in the fourth Test.
“England will not call up a replacement for the fifth Test, which gets underway in Sydney on 4 January.”
Durham bowler Matthew Potts is in line to replace Atkinson, having previously featured in ten tests - during which he took 36 wickets at an average of 29.44 - and 11 one-day international matches for England.
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Potts has also previously represented England Under-19s.
The final Ashes test will get underway on January 4, before England then turn their attention to the three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka at the end of the month.
Three T20 matches will follow the ODIs before the T20 World Cup gets underway on February 8, with England due to face Nepal in their opening game in Colombo.
Luke Davies