England suffered a massive blow as their ace pacer Josh Tongue suffered an injury during the ongoing second unofficial Test against India A at Northampton County on Monday. The availability of Tongue, who is also part of the England squad for the five-match Test series against India, has now become uncertain ahead of the first Test at Headingley, Leeds, starting on June 20.

Tongue suffered the injury and walked off the field on Day 3 of the second unofficial Test. The pacer bowled only four overs on the penultimate day. He turned out to be quite expensive, going wicketless and conceding 27 runs from his short four-over spell.

However, the extent of Tongue's injury remains not known, with uncertainty looming over his participation in the Headingley Test.

Tongue recorded the most expensive figures as an England Lions bowler during India A's first innings. Despite cleaning up the India A tail with valuable wickets of Tanush Kotian and Anshul Kamboj, the right-arm seamer went for 91 runs in 20.3 overs, registering an economy of 4.44.

Tongue earlier played for England in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, claiming two wickets for 121 runs over two innings. He has so far played three Tests for England, claiming 12 wickets, including a best bowling figure of 5 for 66 in an innings against Ireland in 2023.

With England already dealing with the injuries of Mark Wood, Olly Stone, and Gus Atkinson, Tongue's absence will be a further blow to the hosts. To add to that, Jofra Archer’s return to Test cricket has also been delayed by a thumb injury.

In the current circumstances, England might go with Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, and Sam Cook as their frontline pacers, with Ben Stokes assisting the trio with his gentle medium pace.

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