Josh Tongue is set to make his England debut against Ireland (Twitter Image)
Josh Tongue was considering quitting cricket at the age of 24, but a few botox injections later, he is on the verge of making his England Test debut against Ireland
Josh Tongue, an uncapped fast bowler, has been given the responsibility to fill the big shoes of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson in England’s only Test against Ireland ahead of the Ashes. Tongue, who plays for Worcestershire in the County Championship, has recently got the wicket of Steven Smith in a first-class game.
The wicket certainly grabbed the eyeballs of the selectors. After Anderson and Robinson sustained injuries, Tongue was called up to make his England debut in the Three Lions’ first red-ball assignment of the summer. After the news broke out on Tuesday, May 30, Tongue termed it a “dream come true.”
Speaking about Josh Tongue’s Test debut, Luke Wright, England men’s national selector, said that they had been monitoring the youngster for a long period and his performance in the domestic circuit paved the way for the Worcestershire pacer to earn his maiden Test call-up.
It has been a huge turnaround for Tongue who at one point in time had considered walking away from the sport. Between June 2021 and August 2022, he underwent an intense spell of 15 months of pain.
The pacer began his career with Worcestershire’s under-10s aged just six. A prodigious bowler blessed with pace with 162 first-class wickets to his name, injuries forced him to almost retire from the sport. In 2018 he sustained a metatarsal injury and was almost set to undergo surgery before he was suggested by David Murray, a shoulder injury specialist to take botox injection and he return to the field in two months.
In his first professional match back from injury, Tongue bowled eight overs, took 2-41 and never looked back.
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Wright seemed hopeful about Tongue taking his game to another level under the guidance of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. “With a busy summer of Test cricket ahead, it is crucial to have players ready to act, and we will need that depth in our team,” Wright explained.
Josh Tongue, alongside Stuart Broad and Matthew Potts, will form a three-pronged pace attack for England in the four-day Test against Ireland that is scheduled to begin on June 1. There were speculations about Chris Woakes making his first Test appearance on English soil since August 2020. Tongue edged past Woakes in the race owing to his sharp pace and bounce.
Coach Brendon McCullum has also shown his faith in Josh Tongue, labelling the 25-year-old as a “big, strong lad.” “He (Josh) is definitely a little bit of a rough diamond. He has experienced some injuries throughout the course of his career, so it is good for a person like him to be able to present his case this summer during a long extend of injury-free time,” McCullum said.
Tongue made his England under-19 Test debut as well as his maiden appearance for the England Lions at the age of 19. With 162 wickets in just 47 matches, he has a first-class cricket bowling average of 26.04. Tongue initially experienced a nerve tissue problem in his arm in 2019 and it lasted for more than a year, demanding two operations. The pacer made three appearances for the England Lions prior to injury and returned fit in 2020.