Ashes 2023: Josh Tongue's vicious in-swinger bowls David Warner through the gate at Lord's

The second Test of the Ashes 2023 got underway on Wednesday, June 28, at Lord’s. England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bowl first in the amid overcast conditions. However, England could not make the most of the bowling-friendly atmosphere as Australian openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja put on a 73-run opening stand.

Seeing the situation turning gloomy for his side, Josh Tongue turned out to be the man with the golden arm as he dismissed Khawaja and Warner by destroying their stumps. After getting Khawaja in the first session, Tongue bowled a ripper to get rid of a well-set Warner. The 25-year-old bowled a vicious in-swinger from around the wicket that went through Warner’s defence and crashed into his stumps.

Watch the dismissal here:

Earlier, the southpaw looked in fine touch as he scored a brilliant half-century off 66 balls. He reached the landmark in style as he pulled Tongue for a six over square leg and brought up his 35^th half-century. The 36-year-old departed for a well-made 66 off 88 balls smashing eight fours and a six in his innings.

Notably, it was his eighth half-century in 16 innings in England, where he averages 26.86. Warner has not been in the best of form, as he scored his first half-century after nine innings. Despite his low returns with the bat, the opener had support from the head coach Andrew McDonald and the entire team management, who backed him to do well ahead of the second Test.

Warner repaid the faith with a brilliant half-century and will be eager to score consistently in the remaining matches of the series.

Tongue got Khawaja as his maiden Ashes wicket

Meanwhile, Tongue was the pick of the bowlers for England as he dismissed both Australian openers. Before dismantling Warner’s timber, he first got the prized scalp of Khawaja, who was the Player of the Match in the first Test. The Australian opener left a delivery just outside the off stump, which nipped in sharply and crashed into his wickets.

After losing both their openers on a score of 96, Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne took guard at the crease and took their team’s total forward.