Bharath Ramaraj and Vaibhav Tripathi
Worcestershire pacer Josh Tongue has replaced Moeen Ali in the playing XI as England opted for an all-seam attack for the second Ashes Test, starting on Wednesday.
Moeen faced challenges due to a blister on his spinning finger during the first Test and was limited to bowling just 14 overs in Australia’s second innings at Edgbaston. As a result, England have decided to bring in Tongue, who showcased his skills by taking 5-66 on his Test debut against Ireland at Lord’s earlier this month. The pace bowler bowled with with a fair amount of pace and also extracted bounce in that Test.
Notably, express pace bowler Mark Wood has been overlooked once again. He has not featured in Test cricket since December last year during England’s tour of Pakistan. As per sources, Wood “is just not ready to bowl and play a full part” in a Test, and could come into the equation third game onwards.
Ben Stokes, England skipper, later confirmed in a presser that Wood wasn’t match fit for the Test. “Me and Mark are great friends,” he said. “We go back a long way. I spoke to him 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.”
Additionally, Chris Woakes and leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed have also been left out of the squad for the second Test.
England’s playing XI for the second Test at Lord’s: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope (vc), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes ©, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue, James Anderson