‘I was very, very impressed with the way he just said yes to the plans’ – Josh Tongue’s demolition job at Lord’s draws praise from skipper Ben Stokes

England skipper Ben Stokes is highly impressed with pacer Josh Tongue, who picked up a sensational five-for in the second innings of the one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s. In the absence of James Anderson, Jofra Archer and Ollie Robinson, the 25-year-old stepped up to get the job done. 

Notably, after England’s 10-wicket win over their neighbours at Lord’s, Stokes mentioned that Tongue executed his role perfectly and also talked about his versatility and that he was up for bowling in any situation. 

“I told him the role that I saw him playing in this team as our third seamer and used him in a way to get different types of spells out of one bowler. His first spell, he came on and bowled really well pitching the ball up.

“Then we looked to use his pace to use him as the aggressor when we needed to and the wicket got a bit flat. For him to show he’s more than one type of bowler does us the world of good as a team going forward, knowing we’ve found someone else who can fulfil the role of the guys with the extra pace,” Stokes was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

“Bowling the long spell yesterday and two long spells today, I wasn’t quite sure of how to manage him so early on but I was very, very impressed with the way he just said yes to the plans I wanted him to operate under,” the 32-year-old added.

Tongue was very unlucky not to get a wicket in the first innings: Stokes

The skipper also added that Tongue was very unlucky in the first innings against Ireland. The Worcestershire pacer was accurate with his line and length but failed to pick up a wicket. Stokes, however, added that he got the rewards in the second innings as his pace eventually rattled the Andrew Balbirnie-led side.

“He was very unlucky not to get a wicket in the first innings but he definitely reaped the rewards [in the second]. I told him to just run in and do what you do – and then I’ll worry about the rest of the stuff. Let the lad go out and bowl in the way that’s got him here in the first place,” the skipper mentioned.