India vs England: Injury-ravaged hosts call up rookie Eddie Jack as cover for Josh Tongue
With less than 10 days to go for the first Test against India at Leeds, hosts England are fretting over the availability of their key pace men. For a team that is already missing the services of Jofra Archer for the first Test, Josh Tongue, playing for England Lions against India in the second unofficial Test, hobbled off the field with the nature of his injury yet to be ascertained. With Mark Wood also ruled out of the English summer, and Gus Atkinson still recovering from hamstring injury that he picked up during the one-off Test against Zimbabwe a fortnight ago, England have sent SOS to young pacer Eddie Jack to join the squad as cover. The 19-year-old pacer with just two first-class games by his side featured in the drawn outing against India A that ended on Monday.
Heading into the five-match Test series that starts on June 20, England's already thin bowling line-up is now heavily dependent on seamer Chris Woakes. The 36-year-old veteran of 57 Tests is the most capped bowler in the squad, whose workload England have to manage cautiously. After picking up an ankle injury in the SA20, Woakes returned to competitive cricket only towards the end of May, where he turned up in one County fixture before getting some mileage in the Lions game against India. With Archer, who is set to return to Test cricket after a gap of four years, delayed at least till second Test, even if he regains full fitness, he is unlikely to play all four matches thereafter with Ashes being the priority for England.
It means, England are pinning their hopes on the likes of Sam Cook, who has played only one Test so far, but has wealth of first-class experience. In 90 first-class matches, he has accounted for 322 wickets at an average of 20.16 and is expected to share the new ball with Woakes at Headingley. And then there are the two all-rounders Jamie Overton and Brydon Carse. The 31-year-old Overton who has played only one Test so far is more of a hit-the-deck bowler, whom England might rely on for their defensive trap that Bazballers have employed. Carse, who is known for his quick-arm action, is another option on the table, and in his brief five-match Test career, has already made quite an impression which includes a 10-wicket match haul at Christchurch last December.
With their seam bowling options thin, it would be interesting to see how England skipper Ben Stokes goes about his own bowling. Having undergone a hamstring surgery, Stokes enters the series with not many overs behind him. The 11 overs he sent down against Zimbabwe at Nottingham towards the end of May is the only outing he has had since the surgery. Between July 2023 to February 2024, Stokes had stopped bowling in Tests before sending in five overs against India at Dharamsala last year. Since then he has bowled regularly against West Indies, Pakistan and New Zealand but how many overs will he be ready to bowl against India remains a big question.
It is not just in the pace department that England are short on experience. Even with regards to their spinners, the hosts are relying a lot on 21-year-old off-spinner Shoaib Bashir with Joe Root expected to share the load.
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