{"id":297389,"date":"2023-11-17T19:23:58","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T19:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=297389"},"modified":"2023-11-17T19:23:58","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T19:23:58","slug":"tongue-relishing-working-with-idol-flintoff-on-england-lions-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/%d1%81ricket\/tongue-relishing-working-with-idol-flintoff-on-england-lions-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Tongue relishing working with 'idol' Flintoff on England Lions tour"},"content":{"rendered":"
Josh Tongue will use the next fortnight working alongside his hero Andrew Flintoff trying to prove he is a multi-format international bowler.<\/p>\n
Tongue, 26, made two Test appearances last summer, but was denied the chance to win some white-ball caps for England on home soil due to injury, and is therefore in line for double debuts in twin one-day and Twenty20 series next month.<\/p>\n
Prior to that, he is with England Lions in Abu Dhabi, building up his all-round fitness as well as practising some skills that will come in useful when England tour India in January-March.<\/p>\n
\u2018Obviously, I have played a lot more red ball than white ball but I do see myself as an all three format bowler and I want to get better at my white ball cricket, so hopefully I can showcase that in the West Indies.<\/p>\n
\u2018I bowled quite well in the Hundred, so I know that I have the skills to be a white-ball cricketer. It is the yorkers and slower balls I need to improve on as one of my main areas of getting better is the back end of the innings.\u2019<\/p>\n
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England bowler Josh Tongue is keen to establish himself as a multi-format bowler in the coming months<\/p>\n
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The 26-year-old made two Test appearances last summer but injury denied him the chance to take part in any white ball cricket<\/p>\n
Of Lions mentor and 2005 Ashes star Flintoff, he added: \u2018This is my first time meeting Freddie, we\u2019ve only had little chats but I know over the UAE trip we will have a lot more.<\/p>\n
\u2018He was my idol \u2013 so as soon as I found out he was coming on this trip it was like a pinch myself sort of thing.\u2019<\/p>\n
Tongue, who played in Test matches against both Ireland and Australia at Lord\u2019s in 2023, would have featured in limited-overs cricket for England already, but for a late-season niggle.<\/p>\n
\u2018I had a tear in my pec towards the back end of the Hundred, it was the last group game and it was bit too sore to carry on and I was looking towards the winter and stuff and I didn\u2019t want to make it worse,\u2019 he explained.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, however, for a bowler who is able to regularly hit speeds touching 90 miles per hour, the recurring shoulder problem that threatened to end his career just 18 months ago is being kept at bay with Botox treatments that settle the nerves around the joint.<\/p>\n
\u2018In Sri Lanka with the Lions last winter, we finished the \u2018Test\u2019 series and I stayed on for the white ball matches and it came back a bit there, so I flew back to the UK and got an injection in February and I have had no symptoms since then, touch wood,\u2019 Tongue added.<\/p>\n
\u2018But if it does start coming back, I can come home and get an injection straightaway; it\u2019s not a long lay off so I\u2019d be back bowling in a week or two.\u2019<\/p>\n
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Tongue has expressed his delight at the chance to work with ‘idol’ Andrew Flintoff while on tour with England Lions in the UAE<\/p>\n
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Flintoff will travel to Abu Dhabi as a mentor for the Lions team during their winter training camp<\/p>\n