He took 3 for 57 in the first innings at The Oval.
Not a great bowler, but a bowler of great balls. Nothing describes Josh Tongue better than this after his recent performance in the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval. Tongue returned with three for 57 as England bowled out India for 224 in the first innings. In the second, he accounted for the big wicket of KL Rahul before stumps on day two.
Leading the five-match series by 2-1, the hosts came into the final Test with a worn-out pace battery. With captain Ben Stokes also ruled out, England were forced to revamp their pace attack. They stuck with Chris Woakes for the fifth game on the trot, and brought in Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, and Tongue.
It exposed the lack of depth in England’s pace bowling resources as most of them struggled for control in lively conditions. Atkinson was the pick of the bowlers with a five-wicket haul while Tongue managed to take three.
AMR
194/7
TBW
195/5
SLK
–
TKR
–
ABF
–
SKA
–
SLK
–
BR
–
DCDM
–
DVDM
–
MIEDM
–
GGDM
–
NDS
8/0
EDR
–
Match Abandoned due to Rain
WDL
–
PD
–
Match abandoned due to rain
NDT
–
CDK
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
ROM
98/5
CZR
99/2
Czech Republic beat Romania by 8 wickets
ROM
117/3
CZR
75/10
Romania beat Czech Republic by 42 runs
ROM
108/9
CZR
86/10
Romania beat Czech Republic by 22 runs
ROM
86/6
CZR
88/3
Czech Republic beat Romania by 7 wickets
ROM
–
CZR
–
ROM
–
CZR
–
ROM
–
CZR
–
AUST
216/4
BEL
215/4
Austria beat Belgium by 6 wickets
AUST
211/4
BEL
182/8
Austria beat Belgium by 38 runs (D/L) method
AUST
–
BEL
–
AUST
–
BEL
–
DURH
–
BB
–
NOR
–
MID
–
KENT
–
SOM
–
ESS
–
GLO
–
SUSS
–
YOR
–
LEI
–
WOR
–
HAM
–
DER
–
NOT
–
SURR
–
KWT
223/9
JER
223/9
QAT
–
KNY
–
PNG
–
KWT
–
IRE-W
166/4
ITA-W
103/7
Ireland Women beat Italy Women by 63 runs
NED-W
255/3
GER-W
53/10
Netherlands Women beat Germany Women by 202 runs
GER-W
–
IRE-W
–
ITA-W
–
NED-W
–
BAN
–
IND
–
Match Called off
KZK
146/6
TCC
0/0
NCMI
–
CEC-A
–
KRMPS
–
SBSCC
–
BNC
–
KUMS
–
KBTS
183/8
ALRS
149/10
Kochi Blue Tigers beat Alleppey Ripples by 34 runs
TTS
209/5
CAGS
192/7
CAGS
–
ATR
–
KBTS
–
ARKS
–
HBT
132/5
MYW
129/8
Hubli Tigers beat Mysore Warriors by 5 wickets
BNB
164/7
GBM
167/3
Gulbarga Mystics won by 7 wickets
BNB
–
MGD
–
SML
–
MYW
–
YSG
121/10
MUT
119/7
Yallah Shabab Giants beat Muscat Thunderers by 2 runs
RNC
161/3
IAI
160/4
Renaissance Challengers beat IAS Invincibles by 7 wickets
ROS
151/9
MAT
23/2
YSG
–
ROS
–
MAT
–
RNC
–
AUS
–
SA
–
SSC
180/6
SGR
153/10
Sunshine Coast beat Sandgate Redcliffe by 26 runs
WYN
149/10
RLS
150/2
Redlands beat Wynnum Manly by 8 wickets
TMB
99/9
VLLY
167/9
Valley beat Toombul by 67 runs
SBB
166/6
IPS
169/8
Ipswich beat South Brisbane by 2 runs
WSS
163/1
UOQ
161/3
Western Suburbs won by 9 wickets
IPS
–
TMB
–
SBB
–
WSS
–
SGR
–
WYN
–
RLS
–
SSC
–
GCT
–
UOQ
–
NSBB
–
VLLY
–
NOS
–
OVI
–
LOS
–
SOB
–
WEF
–
TRR
–
MAO
–
BIP
–
NOS-W
127/3
OIW-W
125/6
Northern Superchargers Women beat Oval Invincibles Women by 7 wickets
LSW-W
125/8
SBW-W
126/2
Southern Brave Women beat London Spirit Women by 8 wickets
WFW-W
–
TRW-W
–
MOW-W
–
BIP-W
–
CHK
162/8
HHA
166/6
Hobart Hurricanes Academy beat Chicago Kingsmen by 4 wickets
ACOM
161/3
MS-A
160/9
Australian Capital Territory beat Melbourne Stars Academy by 7 wickets
BANA
175/4
AS-A
179/3
Adelaide Strikers Academy beat Bangladesh A by 7 wickets
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
KARS
224/3
MEMA
133/9
Kashi Rudras beat Meerut Mavericks by 91 runs
GOLS
193/2
KASS
81/3
MEMA
–
NOSK
–
KARS
–
LUF
–
Banged it in the middle and way down the leg side. Five wides. This is how Tongue started his first spell on Thursday morning. He bowled two more wides in that same over. Throughout the day, he struggled to get his radar right, straying on both sides of the wicket.
It took him a while to get into the rhythm, but he kept bowling wayward. That didn’t stop him from making an impact, however, as he bowled a couple of unplayable deliveries to dismiss Sai Sudharsan and Ravindra Jadeja.
In the 35th over of the innings, he bowled a top-of-the-stump length delivery to Sudharsan from round the wicket. The left-hander had to play it, but it nipped away late to take an outside edge. Tongue produced a carbon copy of it four overs later, dismissing Jadeja off a slightly shorter length. Tongue started the second day with another five wides before trapping Karun Nair with a superb delivery.
Like déjà vu, but with receipts. pic.twitter.com/vUF9F6ccaZ
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 31, 2025
Funnily, you would think facing someone like Tongue must be extremely frustrating. When a batter is facing literal robots like Pat Cummins, he knows what line is coming, what length is coming. Ball after ball. When you’re batting against Tongue, you have no idea where the next ball is going to land or how it’s going to behave.
It wasn’t just batters who were perplexed by the whole thing. Tongue had fans and experts scratching their heads as they had no clue how to rate him. Not often do you come across a guy who is so good and so bad at the same time.
ALSO READ:
It is no secret that Josh Tongue lacks control. But he has this knack of bowling great balls out of nowhere. If we recall The Ashes in 2023, he started poorly in the second Test before cleaning up Usman Khawaja and David Warner with two in-swinging rippers around the wicket.
Warner GONE! 🤩
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 28, 2023
S̶t̶u̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶B̶r̶o̶a̶d̶ Josh Tongue gets his man! #EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/3sw6FSU2To
Tongue has the attributes that can make a really good Test bowler. He has the pace, consistently bowling at over 140 kmph. He can move the ball both ways and is reasonably tall. A case in point was the way he troubled KL Rahul consistently in the second innings at The Oval before finally dismissing him with a peach.
If he can work on his control and produce more spells like the one he did against Rahul, Tongue can be quite a headache for the opponents. He is 27 years of age, so he has that in his favour as well. All he needs is continued backing from the England management. And looking at their pace bowling depth, Tongue should get it.
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Tungabhadra Warriors won by 5 wickets