England included Josh Tongue ahead of Mark Wood (as well as Moeen Ali, Rehan Ahmed and Chris Woakes) for the second Test match of Ashes 2023, at Lord’s.
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England XI for Lord’s Test, Ashes 2023: Ben Stokes (c), Ollie Pope (vc), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue, James Anderson
England made only one change from the Edgbaston Test match: they replaced Moeen, who had been nursing an injured spinning finger, with fast bowler Tongue.
They had called up Rehan as cover for Moeen, and both had been practising with the squad at Lord’s. At the same time, they had released fast bowler Matthew Potts for the County Championship.
After the Edgbaston Test match, Anderson was frank in expressing his dissatisfaction with the pitch: “That pitch was like kryptonite for me. There was not much swing, no reverse swing, no seam movement, no bounce and no pace.”
The strip at Lord’s, on the other hand, bears a prominent green tinge.
This, btw, is pitch now: pic.twitter.com/a7J6OzoCdW
— George Dobell (@GeorgeDobell1) June 27, 2023
As a result, though Moeen’s finger had “recovered really well”, England left him – and Rehan – out of the XI and opted for the extra fast bowler. Lord’s’ reputation as offering little for the spinner also came into the equation, according to Stokes.
For that, they had three choices. Wood, their fastest bowler, whose 17 wickets were the most for England in the 2021/22 Ashes; Woakes, whose record at Lord’s makes him one of two cricketers with 300 runs at over 50 and 25 wickets at under 15 at a venue in Test cricket; and Tongue.
Wood would have been England’s first choice, especially since they lacked a bowler of genuine pace on the flat Edgbaston surface.
England captain Stokes informed the media that England “wanted to play Mark Wood” at Lord’s: “We felt that he could definitely start the game but with conversations, we felt the extra week with build-up and getting his loads up would give him a better chance and an opportunity to play a full part from Leeds onwards. We brought Tonguey into the team as a like-for-like with Woody.”
Stokes emphasised that England were keen on Wood regaining fitness before the third Test match, at Headingley: “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.”
Fitness problems have kept Wood out of professional cricket since the 2023 IPL. He has not played first-class cricket since the Karachi Test match of last December either.
Tongue’s only Test match was at Lord’s, earlier this month against Ireland. After going wicketless in the first innings, Tongue impressed with 5-66 in the second on a batting-friendly pitch.
It is worth a mention that England will be going into the Test match with Joe Root as their main spinner.
