Who is Josh Tongue? - All you need to know about England’s new pacer

Josh Tongue made his international debut in the one-off Test match against Ireland on June 1 at the iconic Lord’s. Notably, in the absence of Jofra Archer, James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, he will have to play a massive role as England prepare for the all-important Ashes 2023.

The cricketer replaced all-rounder Chris Woakes, who was named in the squad ahead of Tongue’s debut call-up. Woakes, meanwhile, hasn’t played a lot of Test matches in recent times as he was suffering a long-term injury. 

Interestingly, pacer Tongue recently picked up the wicket of Steve Smith in the County Division Two. Tongue pinned the Australia international lbw for 30 and since then, the cricketer has been the talk of the town. 

Previously, he was part of the ECB’s pace development program and also represented England Lions in 2017. On his Championship debut, Tongue managed to pick up a five-for against Glamorgan and finished the season with 47 wickets in his kitty. With that, he helped Worcestershire qualify for Division One but since then, he has spent a lot of time on the sidelines due to injuries.

In 2022, the cricketer was on the verge of retiring from professional cricket as a nerve issue in his shoulder kept him out of action for almost 15 months. He had to undergo two surgeries and only returned to cricket towards the end of the season, where he played three matches for his county side, picking up five wickets in the process.

Meanwhile, talking about his debut, Tongue said that it is a dream come true moment for him as Brendon McCullum revealed that news to him. “It’s an amazing feeling. (I’m) speechless, really. Even from when I got the first call-up to be in the squad… now being in the actual team, it’s just a dream come true really. Baz (Brendon McCullum) came up to me just before training finished today. I had just finished a gym session, actually, and he came up to me and gave me the good news,” Tongue said.