LONDON: Right-arm pacer Josh Tongue replaced veteran all-rounder Moeen Ali in England’s Playing XI for the second Ashes Test against Australia, scheduled to commence on June 28 at Lord’s.
Moeen Ali, who returned from Test retirement, suffered a blister on his right hand’s index finger during the first Ashes Test which saw England succumbing to a narrow two-wicket defeat after Pat Cummins’s masterclass.
Meanwhile, Josh Tongue was preferred over fellow seamer Chris Woakes and youngster Rehan Ahmed at the back of his magnificent five-wicket haul on his debut Test against Ireland last month.
Furthermore, Tongue is being foreseen as a cover for right-arm speedster Mark Wood, who was given an extra week to prepare fully for the Headingley Test.
“We needed to get to Lord’s first and see what conditions we were faced with,” England captain Ben Stokes said.
“We wanted to play Mark Wood but we felt while he could definitely start the game, we felt an extra week of build-up and loading him would give him a better chance to play fully from Headingley (third Test) onwards.
“And we brought Tonguey into the team as a like-for-like with Woody. I’m looking forward to seeing Tonguey continue his great start he had against Ireland here.
“Me and Mark are great friends, we go back a long way…I spoke to him about how I’d want him to operate in this game and he was very honest with me. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to give what he’s known for throughout this Test match. So the decision was made to allow him to keep building his body up to give himself the best opportunity to go out from Leeds onwards to play a full part.”
Ben Stokes further explained the decision of going with an all-pace attack and leaving Moeen Ali out of England Playing XI by asserting that Lord’s offers more to the seamers.
“We turned up here and have seen a lot of grass on the wicket, it is a bit green.
“Traditionally Lord’s offers more for seamers and with how Mo’s finger has recovered, actually recovered really well, I thought we would get more with four seamers and went with Tongue.”
England Playing XI for second Ashes Test:
Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue, James Anderson.
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