England Add Josh Tongue To Squad For Ireland Test
England vs Ireland
England have added uncapped Worcestershire seamer Josh Tongue to their squad for next week's Lord's Test against Ireland.
The 25-year-old has been drafted in as cover due to injury concerns over pacemen James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, both of whom remain with the group but are unlikely to be risked ahead of the start of the Ashes next month.
Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Matthew Potts and Mark Wood are the other pacemen in the squad for the one-off Test against Ireland, starting on June 1.
With Jofra Archer ruled out for the whole season and Olly Stone currently sidelined, Tongue's elevation means he is in contention for the hotly anticipated five-match series against Australia.
Tongue, who has played for England's second-tier Lions team, averages just over 26 with the ball in first-class cricket.
"We have been monitoring Josh for quite some time and he deserves this call-up," said England selector Luke Wright.
"It will be a great experience for him to understand and get used to the environment under (captain) Ben (Stokes) and (coach) Brendon (McCullum).
"It is important to have players ready to respond and with a big summer of Test cricket coming up, we will need that depth to our squad."
Ireland have called up uncapped seamer Matthew Foster following an injury setback for Conor Olphert.