London: Ahead of the start of their Test summer, England have suffered a setback as pacer Josh Tongue has been ruled out for an ‘indefinite period’ due to his pectoral injury.
England will start their home summer with a three-match Test series against West Indies, starting July 10. With James Anderson retiring after the opening Test at Lord’s, England will face a dearth of pace bowling options for the remainder of the series.
“Josh has had a setback to his original injury (pectoral injury). There is no timescale on when he’ll return to action,” the England and Wales Cricket Board was quoted as saying by the ICC.
Tongue has not played any game for England since June last year but he was among others to be gearing up for Anderson’s replacement in the red-ball format.
The 26-year-old made his debut against Ireland last year and has scalped 10 wickets in his two-match Test career so far.
He missed England’s white-ball tour of the West Indies and the five-match Test series against India earlier this year due to the same injury.
The right-arm fast bowler remained doubtful for the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka following the Tests against West Indies.
Tongue possesses a considerable degree of first-rate expertise. His 50-match first-class career has seen him pick 177 wickets for Worcestershire, the county team he plays for. With nine five-wicket hauls and seven four-fors under his belt, he has a first-class average of 25.45.