Botox bolstering his shoulder and someone else’s Achilles holding together his chest – Josh Tongue sounds like a contemporary Frankenstein’s monster.
Tongue’s injury history resembles an A to Z of medical conditions, but with England fast bowling rivals now struggling with their own failing body parts, a timely return from a 17-month absence has left him well placed to add to his two Test caps this summer.
So lengthy had the 27-year-old’s absence been that he only debuted for Nottinghamshire – the county he signed for during the 2023 Ashes – a fortnight ago.
Making up for lost time, his five-wicket haul in the second innings plunged Durham to defeat.
Importantly there has been no adverse reaction to either the complex surgery to repair a ruptured right pectoral muscle or the hamstring tear that aborted a comeback last summer.
‘Getting through that workload in the first week was a really good thing for myself mentally, knowing I can trust my body again,’ Tongue said. ‘The only thing I want to think about is how am I going to get the batter out down the other end.’
Josh Tongue’s injury history resembles an A-Z of medical conditions but he is making up for lost time and is well placed to add to his two England Test caps this summer
There has been no adverse reaction to either the complex surgery to repair a ruptured right pectoral muscle or the hamstring tear that aborted a comeback last summer
So lengthy had the 27-year-old’s absence been that he only debuted for Nottinghamshire – the county he signed for during the 2023 Ashes – a fortnight ago
Tongue has had plenty of off-field issues to contemplate.
So bad was his bout of thoracic outlet syndrome – a condition in which nerves or blood vessels between the neck and shoulder are compressed, triggering intense pressure and pain – that he considered retirement at 25.
Botox injections, a last resort, saved his career.
‘I was very close to hanging up the boots. I was speaking to the Professional Cricketers’ Association for help, talking over insurance, all that sort of stuff, and then the bit of Botox helped get me back on the park and it was an amazing year for me after that,’ he reflects.
‘That thoracic outlet syndrome will still be around, but I’ve got the little cure now, which I can have when needed. If I get that dead feeling in my arm or my fingers go cold or a bit purple, I can have an injection. Touch wood, I haven’t had any since coming back from Sri Lanka in 2023.’
Then, a pec injury suffered during the Hundred in August 2023 took a turn for the worse three months later.
‘I got back by November, went on an England Lions camp out in Abu Dhabi, but obviously it was a bit too soon. I ruptured the pec, pretty much off the bone,’ he explains.
An operation failed, so surgeons reverted to an Achilles tendon allograft, using an Achilles tendon from an American donor to recreate the pectoralis major tendon.
Tongue appears to be a shoo-in for the Ashes in 2025-26 provided he is able to stay fit
His long-awaited return to an England squad could now come as early as next month
‘It’s quite a weird thing, but it’s holding it all together,’ Tongue says, as he charts a period that saw him holiday in Barcelona and Cyprus and battle Notts team-mates Jack Haynes and Dillon Pennington on Call of Duty and FIFA between rehab commitments.
‘Then, doing one little sprint session, my hamstring went. It was very cruel to get that on top of what I dealt with last year.’
Such ill fortune made Tongue’s impact a fortnight ago against Durham all the sweeter, especially with the Ashes coming up this winter. Tongue acquainted himself with conditions Down Under on his second England Lions tour earlier this year and appears a shoo-in for the main event in 2025-26 if he can stay fit.
He says he learnt ‘not to bowl the same ball every ball as it gets easier for the batters to line up, and that means using the crease, bowling wobble seam, coming around the wicket, trying my short stuff and trying not to be predictable’.
With Mark Wood and Olly Stone out injured until August and Chris Woakes’s start to the season delayed by an ankle issue, Tongue’s return to an England squad could come as early as next month for the four-day Test with Zimbabwe in Nottingham.
But Tongue is cautious, adding: ‘I feel like I’m getting back to where I was in 2023, trying to be more consistent, hitting things from ball one, not ball 15. The more games I get under my belt, as it showed in the first game at Trent Bridge, the better I will get.
‘But my main focus is just staying out on the park, doing well for Notts, and then seeing where the year takes me. There are massive series for England coming up, but I’m trying to think in the present, not the future.’
