Josh Tongue named in unchanged England squad for first…

Josh Tongue named in unchanged England squad for first Ashes Tests

Josh Tongue has retained his place for the Ashes after an impressive debut against Ireland at Lord’s with the rest of the England squad unchanged for the pinnacle event of the summer.

Chris Woakes, who was initially left out in place of Tongue for the Ireland Test, is in contention after England named their full squad.

Zak Crawley, who has been under criticism for his performances at the top of the order, and scored 56 against Ireland, looks set to continue in that position for the first two Tests.

If he can do the same against Australia, England will have no issues. But his innings was a mixed bag, at times he chased runs and could have been out early, but there were moments of beauty, especially with some of his drives.

In fact, the only back-up batter in the squad is Dan Lawrence, who was not selected for the four-day game and returned to Essex to play in their Blast games.

If Tongue does play, and there will definitely be enough rotation of fast bowlers to make that a possibility, it will be a big rise from someone who was forced to contemplate their future in the game due to a shoulder nerve problem.

Ben Stokes spoke ahead of the Test about Tongue’s opportunity, and he seems to have grasped it.

The England captain said on Wednesday: “We saw this as a chance to give Tongue an opportunity to show what he could do and see what his character was like and how he can influence a game in the role he would play if he played more games for us this summer.

“It was a great opportunity we couldn’t look past.”