Tongue to debut amid England injury woes ahead of Ashes

Josh Tongue has edged out veteran seamer Chris Woakes to make his England Test debut against Ireland at Lord's on Thursday in their only match ahead of the Ashes.

The Worcestershire seamer, who has taken 11 County Championship wickets in four matches this season including that of Australian star Steve Smith, was named in the squad last week after injuries to James Anderson and Ollie Robinson.

Jofra Archer also suffered a recurrence of an elbow stress fracture, Olly Stone a hamstring injury playing for Nottinghamshire and Jamie Overton a stress fracture, depleting England's pace stocks for the start of the international season.

"It's an amazing feeling. 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," said Tongue, who will become Worcestershire's first England international since Moeen Ali.

"I bowled at some of the lads on Monday, I felt like I bowled nicely.

"I was going in with no expectations to be playing at all and just bowling at high-class players at the nets was just good for me. I must have bowled fairly well to get selected."

The 25-year-old will feature in a three-pronged seam attack alongside Stuart Broad and Matthew Potts for the four-day Test which starts on Thursday.

While Woakes had been tipped to return to the Test side for the first time on English soil since August 2020, Tongue – along with being the first English bowler to dismiss Smith this summer – has impressed with his sharp pace and bounce.

"He's a big strong lad," England coach Brendon McCullum said. "He looks like he bowls quite fast and has some real skills.

"He is obviously a bit of a rough diamond. He's had some injuries throughout his career and it is nice for a guy like him to be able to have an extended period of time where he has been injury-free this summer to push his case."

Jonny Bairstow makes his first international appearance since last August after a freak golfing accident left him with three separate fractures in his left leg as well as a dislocated ankle and ligament damage.

Bairstow is listed to bat at No.7 and will keep wicket, with Yorkshire teammate Harry Brook keeping his place at No.5 after four centuries in five Tests against Pakistan and New Zealand over the winter.

They are separated in the provisional order by captain Ben Stokes, while Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley will open the batting, with vice-captain Ollie Pope at three and Joe Root at four.

McCullum is confident Anderson (groin) and Robinson (ankle) will be fit for the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston beginning on June 16.

"When I first took over this job, people said there wasn't much depth in English cricket and I disagree with that completely," he said.

"I think there is an immense amount of depth and we've got plenty of good options throughout the squad."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Friday June 16-Tuesday June 20, Edgbaston

Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval