England have handed a shock Ashes debut to Josh Tongue, the Worcestershire seamer, in place of Moeen Ali, for the second Test at Lord’s.

On his return to Test cricket last week, Moeen suffered a recurrence of an injury that has plagued him in the past: a cut on his spinning finger.

Moeen was said by the camp to be recovering well, and came through training on Monday. He is thought to have been fit to play but a green pitch has drawn England into selecting an all-seam attack for the first time under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

Tongue takes his place in the side ahead of Mark Wood, who is thought to have a slight elbow issue, and Chris Woakes, who, despite an outstanding record at Lord’s, is seen as a similar bowler to James Anderson.

Anderson has been retained in the XI that lost at Edgbaston alongside Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson, with Tongue added to bring a slightly quicker option. Tongue took a five-wicket haul on Test debut against Ireland at Lord’s earlier this month and has now been thrown into the white heat of Ashes battle.

The Lord’s pitch appeared reasonably green two days before the Test and, should it remain that way, is expected to provide more pace and bounce than the flat track for the opener at Birmingham, where Australia won by two wickets.

The decision perhaps betrays an uncertainty over the fitness of skipper Stokes. He bowled seven overs in each innings at Edgbaston but has chronic tendinitis.

Without Moeen, much rests on the shoulders of Joe Root, the world’s No. 1 batsman who is now England’s No. 1 spinner following a solid showing at Edgbaston.

The decision also leaves England with a very long tail, with Broad at No. 8 and Robinson No. 9. That will be music to the ears of Mitchell Starc, who is expected to come in to Australia’s XI for Scott Boland.

Australia captain Pat Cummins said he may delay a decision on the final line-up closer to the toss.

Cummins said the weather may also come into play, with heavy clouds forecast for Wednesday potentially altering the surface, as he faces a selection headache with Starc, Scott Boland and Josh Hazlewood vying for two slots in the pace attack.

“I think it’s a factor, well see,” Cummins told reporters on Tuesday. “We’ll work it out tomorrow, give the wicket another day, see what they do with it, see what the weather’s like.”

“I thought everyone who played last week did a great job. We’ve got Starcy there obviously who didn’t play last week who comes into the conversation as well.”

Cummins shared a match-winning 55-run stand with Nathan Lyon in the first Test as Australia’s gritty and often cautious performance trumped England’s audacious ‘Bazball’ flamboyance.

The skipper said Australia will stick to their approach and aim to wear out England before the third test at Headingley, only four days after the scheduled end of the second.

“Our number one goal when we go out there is to score runs and if it takes longer, it doesn’t matter to us,” Cummins said, adding that he was not overly concerned about bowlers’ economy rates as long as they were claiming wickets.

The Daily Telegraph in London & Reuters

Marnus wants more from quicks

London: Marnus Labuschagne said Australia, especially the pacers, did not even bring their “B Game” in the win against England in the Ashes opener, adding that there is plenty of room for the visitors to improve as the series goes on.

There were a number of impressive individual performances from the visitors but Labuschagne felt that the formidable Australian pace attack was not at its best.

“I don’t think we played our B-game. I think there are a few guys that played exceptionally well, Usman (Khawaja) played really well, Nathan Lyon bowled exceptionally,” he told ‘SEN Cricket’.

“All our fast bowlers — having seen them bowl for four or five years now — it was certainly not the best they’ve bowled, and we still only had to chase 280. There’s a lot to say there about where this team’s at and how much improvement we can see from this team, from one game to another.”

Labuschagne himself will look to improve in the second Test at Lord's after scores of 0 and 13 in the opening Test.

PTI