Josh Tongue wags at prospect of England return

Meadow Lane and the City Ground have rung out with both boos and cheers in recent weeks as Nottingham Forest and Notts County grapple for League two promotion and coveted Champions League places respectively. The square mile either side of the River Trent echoes with sporting history, with the two storied football grounds famously only spitting distance apart and Trent Bridge – the third oldest cricket ground in the world and the eldest of the three sporting venues – sitting like a quieter elder sibling in West Bridgford since the 1830s.

A smattering of applause reverberated around the place on day two of Nottinghamshire v Hampshire as fans of both sides were scattered sparingly in the Larwood and Voce Stand. The home fans did offer up a disparate but throaty roar when Mohammad Abbas uprooted Hampshire skipper Ben Brown’s off stump on the stroke of lunch and the Notts players swarmed around the Pakistani seamer as he pocketed another wicket on debut against his former county. Haseeb Hameed’s side back-patted and beamed to a man as they headed to the sheds for some sustenance with Hampshire reduced to 99-5 in response to Nottinghamshire’s first innings of 333.

Nottinghamshire’s players and fans have had plenty to be cheerful about so far this season. “We’ve played some really good, hard and competitive cricket” said head coach Peter Moores as he reflected on his side sitting top of division one. It’s no surprise, however, to hear that there will be no laurel lounging on Moores's watch.

One of the most respected and experienced coaches in the game, Moores knows all too well what it takes to win a title, having led Sussex to back-to-back Championship victories in 2003 and 2004 before overseeing Lancashire’s first title in 77 years in 2011.

With Ben Duckett and Josh Tongue called up for England Test duty and duly sequestered for this round of games and with the national selectors likely to take an interest in pace bowler Dillon Pennington and perhaps even teenage off-spinner Farhan Ahmed as the summer progresses, Moores knows that he’ll have to dig deep with the squad at his disposal in order to give the title a serious tilt. It’ll take all his nous and a juggling of resources to keep the likes of Essex and Warwickshire at bay and knock Surrey off their three-peat perch.

With two stints as head coach of the national side, Moores has played both poacher and gamekeeper when it comes to players representing club and country. “It’s always a tricky balance to strike but it’s a crucial one” he said. “It’s based on trust, making sure the player is looked after properly is the most important thing.”

In the case of getting Notts and England seamer Josh Tongue back on the park, Moores describes the dialogue and collaboration between his camp and the ECB’s as a successful one.

The 27-year-old seamer has had a devastating spate of injuries over the years – tears of his pectoral and hamstring muscles putting the skids on an impressive start in an England Test shirt. Tongue picked up five wickets on debut against Ireland At Lord’s in June 2023 before pocketing Steve Smith twice in the Ashes Test at HQ a few weeks later.

“He’s so resilient” Moores said. “He’s come back from some horrendous injuries and he’s bowling with real skill. Everyone knows how big the year ahead is for England in Test cricket. Josh’s given himself the opportunity to be part of something special and he absolutely deserves that chance.”

The other player England have been filleting from Moores's squad on a regular basis over the past couple of years is pugilistic opener Ben Duckett. “He’s a really good player now,” said Moores. “I think probably the biggest feather in Ben’s cap was the fact he was named in the ICC Men’s Test team for last year.

“He’s in the conversation with some serious players and has really unlocked the talent we all knew was in there.”

Moores has seen at close quarters the “journey” that Duckett has been on, the hard yards the batter has put in that are now paying off.

The coach told a story about the winter of 2019 when “no one really wanted” Duckett – he wasn’t selected for the England Lions trips and didn’t get picked up by any franchises either.

It was a career crossroads and Duckett responded by knuckling down. “It wasn’t glamorous, we were there in the indoor school all winter. It’s dark outside, your mates are off earning the big bucks or playing for England. He [Duckett] was just hitting ball after ball,” said Moores.

Duckett is now an integral part of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s team and is reaping the rewards out in the middle. Moores is more than happy to look on from the boundary edge, the stands or on the television. “To see people fulfilling what they’ve worked for and getting the benefit from the work they’ve put in, as a coach, there’s nothing better,” Moores said.

Tongue is odds on to join Duckett in the England line-up against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge in a little over a week’s time. Nottinghamshire have become accustomed to not having their pint-sized opener around and may well not see a great deal of their “strapping” seamer over the coming months either, and yet, the signs so far suggest they’ll find a way to keep the runs and wickets columns filled – not least Abbas, who completed a fine five-wicket haul as Notts tore through the remainder of the Hampshire order to end with figures of 5-31.

Photograph by Gareth Copley/Getty Images