The last 12 months have been a whirlwind for the Surrey duo of Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson.
This time last year, ahead of the 2024 summer, both had been given early tastes of international cricket. Now, they find themselves integral to England’s plans across all three formats, vital to a white-ball rebuild and red-ball challenges to come against India and Australia.
Off the back of a dispiriting 4-1 Test series loss to India at the start of 2024, they were thrust to the fore as part of a Test refresh, debuting at Lord’s in the first Test against West Indies. Smith was installed as wicketkeeper, replacing Surrey teammate Ben Foakes, asked to bring more verve to the lower order. Atkinson was tasked with leading the attack into a new era, a responsibility hammered home by earning his maiden cap in James Anderson’s farewell.
The pressure of manning both transitions in Ben Stokes’ side were not apparent. Following home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka, followed by a tour of Pakistan, Smith averages 42.46 from nine Tests, ticking off a maiden century at Emirates Old Trafford while Atkinson was batting at the other end, alongside four half-centuries and tidy work behind the stumps.
Atkinson now boasts 54 dismissals in 14 caps, bringing up his fifty in just 158 days (the third fastest for a Test bowler) on the tour of New Zealand, which Smith missed for the birth of his first child. A hat-trick in the second Test against the Black Caps was another milestone for Atkinson, who had already put his name on all three Lord’s honours boards after 12 wickets on that debut against West Indies (split 7 for 45 and 5 for 61) and 118 against Sri Lanka – his maiden first-class hundred.
And yet, for all that success, the desire to spread their talents across all codes, particularly as all-encompassing head coach Brendon McCullum looks for alignment across all three teams, has given them a new perspective on the demands of being multi-format cricketers. After 12 months on the England treadmill, Smith (who featured in 19 internationals during that period) and Atkinson (14), are aware of where their respective games must go.
For Smith, the first bumps in the road were felt at the back end of the winter. Drafted in to the white-ball set-up at the start of 2025 – he was presented his maiden T20I cap by Atkinson in the series against India – he was parachuted in to bat at three for the Champions Trophy. It went as well as England’s campaign with three failures of 15, 9 and 0.
“Thrown in to bat at number three was more of an opportunity and one I didn’t take, but apart from that I feel my role has been pretty clear,” reflected Smith.
“It was a great opportunity which I didn’t take. That is the truth of the matter. I felt I could have done a lot better than that. I think the learnings from that are I definitely didn’t need to be at a top tempo straight away, I do have a bit more time to build into an innings.
“The strength of me as a batter is I can go through the gears, which I obviously didn’t do, so that is a learning to take forward, so if in the next series they want to continue with me up the order, that is something I’ll be looking to change.”
Atkinson has a tougher balance to strike. He struggled to maintain his high-eighties pace on occasion, notably when in the midst of back-to-back matches. With Mark Wood out of the India series with knee surgery, Josh Tongue only just returning from injury and the intricacies of Jofra Archer’s red-ball return yet to be fully determined, a lot rides on Atkinson regularly operating at an average speed closer to 90mph.
While England will tailor his workoads in conjunction with Surrey ahead of the start of the Test summer, which begins on May 22 against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge, the 27-year old acknowledges he must make himself more robust.
“I think that is a challenge for any bowler,” said Atkinson. “I’ve played a lot more cricket in the last eight months than I have before so it was a challenge, but it’s something I’ll be working on throughout the next year and onwards.
“I’ve always been trying to chase playing back-to-back games and multiple games in a row for Surrey, so to be able to do it for England is nice and a positive. It has been a tiring eight to nine months, I bowled a lot more than I usually have, but I’m happy with how I’ve dealt with it all.
“It is obviously a lot more physically demanding. There are stages in county cricket where you can drift a tiny bit, but with all the cameras on and the crowd, there is no drifting (for England) and you always have to be on the ball.”
That both have been able to serve some downtime over the last few weeks since the Champions Trophy is vital considering how little of that there is on the horizon. The six Tests this summer are surrounded by white-ball series against West Indies and New Zealand, followed by Ireland. There is also a limited-overs tour of New Zealand ahead of the winter’s Ashes, with an important T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February 2026.
“You look at it and can’t pre-empt what you’re going to play and not going to play,” said Atkinson. “But you look at it and want to play as much as you can. I think there might be a bit of rotation with the bowlers, but that’s not to say we won’t be involved in all the squads.
“You look at it and say, ‘right I want to be involved in everything,’ but obviously the two main ones being the India series and the Ashes, I think those are the two things they’ll be wanting people to be fresh and ready for.”
Like Atkinson, Smith is keen to experience it all. And though the new role in the Champions Trophy did not go to plan, the fact he was considered for such an important job highlights the options open to him to cement his place as an England regular across the board.
“I’ve always said I am happy to get in the side any which way I can so to go from not playing, not being in that set-up and getting used to it and getting into the environment and playing games is the important thing. Building on experiences and playing against new teams can only help moving forward.
“It’s been a great 12 months. I can’t complain with things that have been thrown at me. It’s just the path of life that I’ve been taken on and it’s great to be thrown into it. It’s always been my dream growing up to play for England so to be given that opportunity was obviously fantastic.
“To play in all three formats is something that can never be taken away and I’ve really enjoyed that. I’ve probably had a few down weeks I guess and a couple back home to reflect on what it’s been like and it’s been great. It’s been exciting to get an opportunity and to improve myself as a player.”
Smith and Atkinson’s first order of business this summer begins at Chelmsford on April 4, as Surrey begin their hunt for a fourth successive County Championship title away to Essex. And while they begin the campaign in their new guises as England staples, there is no doubt where their immediate priorities lie.
“What we’ll try and do is perform to win games for Surrey,” Atkinson said. “I don’t know what my role will be personally at Surrey and whether I’ll take the new ball or not. Whatever happens, I’ll just try to win games for Surrey.”