England pacer Josh Tongue finished with a three-wicket haul versus India in the 5th and final Test at The Oval. Josh Tongue, who was inconsistent with his offerings, bowled three superb balls to earn his wickets. After dismissing the likes of Sai Sudharsan and Ravindra Jadeja on Day 1, Josh Tongue picked the crucial wicket of overnight batter Karun Nair on Day 2.
Sudharsan (38) was dismissed by a short of length delivery angling in from Josh Tongue. He had to play at the ball and ended getting squared up. Jamie Smith took the catch. Josh Tongue also dismissed Jadeja (9) with an exceptional delivery which the batter couldn’t have done anything with. Karun Nair was trapped LBW off a fuller ball which nipped in back sharply to beat Nair.
Josh Tongue managed 3/57 from 14 overs. Apart from bowling 4 maidens, he also conceded 12 wides. The pacer Josh Tongue has raced to 26 wickets from six matches at 30.96. In three Tests versus India, Josh Tongue has 14 wickets at 30.50. This is his maiden series against India.
As per ESPNcricinfo, in 60 First-Class matches, Josh Tongue has 211 wickets at 26-plus.
Josh Tongue and his erractic way of bowling spells on Day 1
At the start of the 40th over – after two long rain delays, with cloudy skies and a green pitch at his disposal – Josh Tongue had the in-form Ravindra Jadeja in his sights. The first ball of the over flew past wicketkeeper Jamie Smith for four byes. The second was short, wide and flashed for four. The third was a beauty on a good length, nibbling away from the left-hander and taking the edge.
From unreachable to unplayable, bizarre to brilliant. Three balls that encapsulated England in their entirety, as they restricted India to 204-6 on day one of the fifth Test at The Oval.Neither Josh Tongue, nor India’s batters, seemed to know what was coming next, as the sheepish giggle after Jadeja’s wicket suggested. Four overs previously, a similar delivery accounted for Sai Sudharsan after a gritty 107-ball 38, while he had started the day with a nine-ball over that conceded 11 runs from wides.
Josh Tongue was not the sole bowler guilty of inconsistency, though that was probably to be expected with England’s depleted stock of quicks. Already without captain Ben Stokes through a shoulder injury and Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse for rotation reasons, late in the day their fortunes went from bad to worse.
Chris Woakes, 14 overs into his legs and playing his fifth consecutive Test, sprawled over the boundary rope to try and save a four and immediately clutched his shoulder in agony and is unlikely to play a part in the rest of the match. Gus Atkinson was impressive on his return from a hamstring problem, with figures of 2-31 from his 19 overs, but England must be wary of over-working him, with Stokes as a case study.
Josh Tongue and Jamie Overton – playing just his second Test, three years after his first – offered little in terms of control and Joe Root and Jacob Bethell are part-time spin options. It is fair to say that stand-in skipper Ollie Pope has a headache.
Despite England’s wayward day, however, India were unable to assert their dominance when they are in need of a win to avoid a series defeat.England bowled 20% of their deliveries down the leg side and attacked the stumps with just 12% – the second-lowest for any innings in the series. But, at the same time, they drew 24% false shots from India, the highest for day one throughout this series.
But considering they were faced with tricky batting conditions, Josh Tongue’s erratic spell at one end and Atkinson’s economic efforts at the other, perhaps it is of little surprise that India’s minds were somewhat scrambled and Australian Legend Ricky Ponting cheekily took a dig at Josh Tongue’s absurd bowling in the first innings vs India.
Josh Tongue bowled beautifully- Ricky Ponting
Former Australian skipper Josh Tongue made a funny comment on England’s pacer Josh Tongue’s much improved performance on Day 2 of the Oval Test against India While praising the fast bowler for his performance , he quipped that the team’s bowling coach Tim Southee must be an genius.
Josh Tongue who had been erratic at times on Day 1, displayed brilliant control on Friday. He troubled KL Rahul in the second innings and was eventually rewarded with his scalp. While reviewing the England’s pacer bowling effort on Day 2 , Ponting , in a light-hearted tone told Sky Sports :
“He bowled beautifully. Tim Southee must be a genius. The bowling coach turned him around overnight into a new ball specialist.
“That was the thing that I was most worried about with Tongue. Yesterday, it wasn’t with the new ball. And normally, when you are going to be a bit erratic, it’s going to be when the ball is brand new. It’s a bit slippery and the seam is not sitting in your fingers quite as comfortably,” Ponting added.
Josh Tongue was all in place in a couple of his overs on Day 1 of the Oval Test. But he has also produced two beauties to get rid of Sai Sudharsan and Ravindra Jadeja in an identical fashion. Early on Day 2 he trapped Karun Nair on 57 with a nip backer. While analyzing Josh Tongue’s bowling on Day 2 of the Oval Test. Ricky Ponting also shed some light on why batters find it tricky to face him. The 50-year-old explained that the right-arm pacer from England has unique wrists. He elaborated :
“The way he started to KL today, gave him a real work over. We talked about his really awkward action. He sort of falls away to the right-hander’s off side. As a right-handed batter, you feel the ball is going to come in to you all the time. But, he’s got this unique wrist where he’s able to get the ball to go away even from shorter length deliveries.”
Earlier in the day, India had been bowled out for 224 after a gritty 57 from Karun Nair and a useful 26 from Washington Sundar. The pair added 55 for the seventh wicket before Gus Atkinson (5/33) and Josh Tongue (3/57) cleaned up the tail. By Stumps, India had erased the deficit and moved to 75/2 in their second innings, with Yashasvi Jaiswal unbeaten on 51 and night-watchman Akash Deep on 4. They will start Day 3 with a 52-run lead and would hope to strengthen it even more further.
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