🔗 Share this article Paceman Gus Atkinson Exacerbates the English team's Fitness Problems. 'Serious blow' for the touring side as Atkinson leaves the field due to a hamstring issue. The pace bowler added to the fitness woes of the England squad upon exiting the playing area on the second morning in the Melbourne Test in the Ashes series. Atkinson pulled up with his hamstring post-delivery in his spell during the morning session. The touring camp reported the 27-year-old had experienced "tightness" and was to take time off the field in order to be assessed "in the coming hours". The series decider of the series at the SCG gets underway this coming Sunday. The English side has been without fast bowlers one seamer to a knee injury and Jofra Archer to a side strain on the current trip. A replacement bowler was called up to provide backup. Atkinson struggled during the first two matches, claiming a mere three wickets. He was left out of the third Test, only to be brought back for the Boxing Day match as Archer's replacement. Atkinson improved at the MCG, bagging two scalps during the host's first knock, and scoring 28 runs with the bat as one of just three English batsmen who passed ten runs. After bowling one over late on the first day, he returned on Saturday morning and dismissed the nightwatchman Scott Boland caught behind. Yet, at the end of the fifth over, he delivered a variation to the batsman and suddenly grabbed for his hamstring. Atkinson returned to the side for the Boxing Day Test after being left out the previous Test.