England have announced their playing eleven for the second Ashes 2023 Test against Australia at the Lord’s cricket ground in London from Wednesday (June 28). The English side opted for an all-seam bowling attack by replacing all-rounder Moeen Ali with Josh Toungue for the upcoming clash. The decision by the hosts was taken despite the off-spinner recovering from the finger injury sustained in the first Test.
It is noteworthy that Moeen was the only spinner to feature for England in the Edgbaston Test, and he had come out of retirement to participate in the Ashes 2023 series. He even had a decent performance with both bat and the ball, claiming overall three wickets and scoring 18 and 19 runs in both innings.
Moeen’s exclusion from England’s team for the Lord’s Test raised many questions and became a major talking point among cricket enthusiasts. However, England skipper Ben Stokes has now come forward and explained the reason behind not picking the off-spinner in the playing eleven.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Stokes reckoned that the decision was taken considering the ground conditions. He also revealed that they wanted to play Mark Wood first, but the pacer told him he wasn’t completely fit. The England captain further stated that the Lord’s cricket stadium has traditionally offered more help to the seamers, so they went with Tongue over Moeen.
“We wanted to play Mark Wood. We felt that he could definitely start the game but with conversations, we felt the extra week with build-up and getting his loads up would give him a better chance and an opportunity to play a full part from Leeds onwards,” said Stokes.
“And we brought Tongue into the team as a like-for-like with Woody. We turned up here at Lord’s and saw there was quite a lot of grass on the wicket, a bit of green. Traditionally, Lord’s has offered more for the seamers and with how Mo’s finger was last week, we just thought we would get more out of our fourth bowler being Josh Tongue this week,” he added.
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