\u201cIt\u2019s Tongue as in T-U-N-G, not Tongue like T-O-N-G! What is that? TONG?\u201d<\/p>\n
Josh Tongue is in his three-year-old son\u2019s playroom, but it isn\u2019t a toddler he is putting to bed. The 28-year-old has heard commentators offer up a few pronunciations of his surname since he made his Test debut in 2023. It seems some of them have got it all, well, a bit Pete Tong.<\/p>\n
Tongue has been refreshingly honest, as wells as candid and endearingly grounded, for the past hour of our wide-ranging conversation, but I still tread carefully on our final topic. He\u2019s 6ft 4in, the definition of strapping and can bowl above 90mph after all. Could it perhaps be a case similar to that of \u201cScones and Sc-own-es?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNah \u2013 it\u2019s T-U-N-G,\u201d he says, laughing. Commentators take note for the next time the Nottinghamshire<\/a> and England fast bowler is in the wickets. When he gets on the park, that is often.<\/p>\n Along with Jacob Bethell\u2019s insouciant maiden Test ton<\/a> and Joe Root\u2019s albatross-flinging overseas Ashes centuries<\/a>, Tongue\u2019s wicket-taking was one of the few English straws to clutch at after a disastrous Ashes series. Introduced for the third Test with England already 2-0 down, he finished the campaign with 18 wickets from three matches. On Boxing Day, in Melbourne, he picked up a five-wicket haul<\/a> in front of a record-breaking 94,199 at the MCG, his family among them.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the stuff dreams are made of,\u201d he says, still with an air of disbelief. \u201cWhen we were kids, me and my brother would play against each other in the garden and pretend we were playing an overseas Ashes Test.\u201d<\/p>\n England went on to win their first Test<\/a> on Australian soil since 2011 and Tongue was named player of the match, the first England quick to scoop that accolade in an Australian Test since Dean Headley in 1998.<\/p>\n Josh Tongue acknowledges the crowd after his five-wicket haul in Melbourne. Photograph: MB Media\/Getty Images<\/p>\n A few months on, Tongue is looking forward to the next chapter in a career of contrasting highs and lows, of eye-catching wickets and well-documented injuries. He says he is \u201craring to go\u201d now the domestic cricket season has begun, but sat out Nottinghamshire\u2019s first fixture of their title defence as he works towards getting into prime condition for what could be a seminal summer.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing at the [T20] World Cup and in Sri Lanka for the white-ball series before, my bowling loads were fairly low compared with the Ashes,\u201d he says. Tongue was in England\u2019s white-ball squads, but did not play. \u201cSo I\u2019m just in the process of getting the loads back up, bowling three or four times a week. I\u2019m sure it won\u2019t be long before I\u2019m back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Was it a frustration not to play? \u201cWhen it comes to selection, everyone knows I\u2019m pretty chilled. I don\u2019t really ever have a bee in my bonnet if someone says I\u2019m not playing. I always think just to be in the squad, to be around the sort of experience in red ball and white ball will stand me in good stead.\u201d<\/p>\n Tongue has the laid-back, reflective, even appreciative air of a man who has been through the ringer. The battles with his body have given him plenty of perspective. In 2022, his struggles with thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition where nerves and blood vessels between the neck and shoulder are squashed causing pain and numbness in the arms and fingers, led to him contemplating early retirement in his mid 20s.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just a horrible time,\u201d he says. How close was he to being forced to give up the game for good? \u201cReally close,. We were in conversations with the PCA [Professional Cricketers\u2019 Association] and going through all the insurance forms. It was heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe specialist said: \u2018Look, you might have to have another operation,\u2019 that would have been my third op in the same area. He was even thinking about taking out my first rib to try to take the pressure off. That would have been it, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n Josh Tongue made his England Test against Ireland at Lord\u2019s in June 2023. Photograph: Alex Davidson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Before that extreme option was reached, salvation came when the same specialist suggested some last-ditch Botox injections in an attempt to relax the muscles and ease the compression. \u201cI was back bowling about two or three weeks later and played for Worcestershire at the back end of that summer. Six months later, I made my Test debut <\/a>for England,\u201d Tongue says, still with an air of disbelief.<\/p>\n The injuries kept coming though. A ruptured pectoral and torn hamstring meant he missed the entire 2024 season for his new club, Nottinghamshire. \u201cAt the end-of-season do I was quite emotional and I went up to Peter Moores [the head coach] and said: \u2018I\u2019m really sorry I\u2019ve not played for you yet.\u2019 He nipped that right in the bud. He just said: \u2018I don\u2019t want to hear you apologising for being injured ever again. It\u2019s crap, but we\u2019ll get you right.\u2019 He\u2019s such a good man-manager Mooresy.\u201d<\/p>\n I can barely get the next question out before Tongue says the same of Brendon McCullum. \u201cI\u2019m lucky to work under two coaches who make you feel 10 feet tall, make you want to get out there and absolutely smash it. They\u2019ve both given me so much confidence.\u201d That confidence has Tongue wanting to take his Test career to the next level. \u201cMy dream is to be England\u2019s opening bowler. That\u2019s where my eyes are at the minute.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite plenty of calls for him to take the new ball during the Ashes, Tongue was used as first change when his skill bowling with a lacquer-less ball was noted. He has even earned himself the nickname \u201cThe Mop\u201d on the county circuit for his adeptness at wiping out tailenders but, he has also got the taste for top-order players.<\/p>\n Just ask Steve Smith who Tongue has now pocketed on multiple occasions, including five times in seven first-class innings. How does it feel to have the wood over one of the greatest batters the game has seen? \u201cWell, he\u2019s got plenty of runs against us too [Smith averages in the teens against Tongue] but it is amazing. He\u2019s a player I grew up watching so a few times I have been thinking: \u2018Bloody hell, I\u2019ve just got Steve Smith out \u2026 again.\u201d<\/p>\n Josh Tongue has had plenty of success against Steve Smith, including taking his wicket in the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney. Photograph: Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The pair shared a beer at the SCG after the series. \u201cHe had a laugh about it,\u201d says Tongue. \u201cDo you know what? I don\u2019t really like talking about cricket too much when I\u2019m not playing.\u201d One imagines it could have been a brief conversation between the pair.<\/p>\n