Josh Tongue has been parachuted straight into the England team for the primary Test of the summer time against Ireland on Thursday, with the Worcestershire seamer set to make his debut after edging Mark Wood and Chris Woakes out of the facet.
England’s head coach, Brendon McCullum, described Tongue as “a big strong lad” who “bowls quite fast and has some real skills” after watching him in motion in the course of the team’s first coaching session of the summer time on Monday. After their second, McCullum broke the information to Tongue that he would play against Ireland.
“I bowled at some of the lads on Monday,” Tongue mentioned. “I felt like I bowled nicely and obviously I was going in with no expectations to be playing at all, and just bowling at high-class players in the nets was good for me. I must have bowled fairly well to get selected.
“Baz came up to me just before training finished [on Tuesday] and gave me the good news. It’s an amazing feeling, a dream come true really.”
Neither Wood or Woakes are injured, although the previous’s participation was doubtful as England sought to handle the workload of their one remaining bowler of specific tempo forward of the Ashes, which begins at Edgbaston on 16 June. Olly Stone, who might need offered a fast-bowling choice, has been dominated out of that match with a hamstring pressure whereas Jofra Archer will miss all the summer time with a recurrence of an elbow harm.
Tongue has his personal expertise with severe harm having spent 15 months affected by thoracic outlet syndrome, the compression of nerves within the shoulder, throughout which he thought of retiring from the sport altogether. “I’m just proud of myself and how I held in there,” he mentioned. “I was very close to retiring – I’d had two operations, seen a lot of specialists and I was in a really dark place. I don’t think there’s that many bowlers who have been in the same situation as me. Obviously nearly retiring, then getting called up to the Lions in Sri Lanka in the winter and now the Test squad, I’m just proud of myself. Knowing I stuck in there, and it’s come good.”
Tongue, who has been related to Worcestershire since he was six years previous – he turns into the county’s first England debutant since Moeen Ali in 2014 – insisted he was not but permitting himself to dream of being concerned within the Ashes. “I’m the sort of person to stay in the present,” he mentioned. “I try not to think too much ahead of myself, and whatever game I play in I just try and do as much as I can for the team to win a game of cricket. Those things will come, hopefully.”
With Ben Stokes unlikely to bowl as he nurses a long-term knee harm, the team’s three seamers might be pressured to shoulder a substantial workload, and it might be that the avoidance of threat was uppermost in McCullum’s thoughts when the facet was chosen, although Tongue is hardly a secure wager on that entrance having just lately recovered from a facet pressure.
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England’s prime six are unchanged from the facet that performed all through the winter, with Jonny Bairstow coming back from harm as wicketkeeper instead of Ben Foakes. Tongue’s seam-bowling assist comes from Matthew Potts, who’s making his sixth Test look and first for the reason that team final performed at Lord’s, against South Africa final August, and Stuart Broad, who makes his 162nd look.
England team to play Ireland at Lord’s Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, Josh Tongue, Jack Leach.
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