Josh Tongue starred in Nottinghamshire's victory over Worcestershire in Division One of the County Championshiptoday (September 11).
Josh Tongue shines with bat and ball
Nottinghamshire fielded first at the County Ground in New Road, and reduced the hosts to 5-37 by the 16th over. Tongue took two of the five wickets to fall, getting Jake Libby caught behind and Brett D'Oliveira bowled off a peach from consecutive deliveries. Resistance from Gareth Roderick (61) and Tom Taylor (40) took Worcestershire to 182. Tongue also accounted for Taylor's wicket to finish with 3-59 in the first innings.
Nottinghamshire responded with a score of 207, led by Freddie McCann's 56. Batting at No.9, Tongue contributed 10 runs, adding 34 runs for the last three wickets and helping his side get a slender 25-run lead.
The England seamer resumed from where he had left off in the first innings, running through the hosts' top-order in the second. He dismissed both openers Rehaan Edavalath (9) and Libby (25) and No.3 Kashif Ali (16), before returning to clean up No.10 Ben Allison (14) and register figures of 4-52. Worcestershire were bowled out for 160, setting up a target of 136 for the visitors.
However, captain and division one run-machine this year, Haseeb Hameed, completed a pair, bowled by Taylor for a duck for the second time in the game. Ben Slater and McCann took Nottinghamshire to 50-1, but regular wickets saw them collapse to 114-7, bringing Tongue to the crease with 22 runs left for victory. In a brisk 18-ball stay with No.7 Lyndon James, Tongue hit three boundaries and took his side over the line without any further hiccups, remaining unbeaten on 14 - which incidentally is also what his first-class batting average is.
Match 104, Worcestershire vs Nottinghamshire
vs
- Ball by ball Over
This was Nottinghamshire's first outright win after four draws in the County Championship. They're currently top of the table with 185 points from 12 matches, but Surrey's ongoing match against Warwickshire seems to be heading towards a draw, which should mean they hold the position they were in before the round at the top of the table. Both teams will face each other in the next round, which will be a decisive factor in deciding who will win the title.
pos
team
1
Surrey
2
Nottinghamshire
3
Somerset
4
Warwickshire
5
Essex
6
Sussex
7
Yorkshire
8
Hampshire
9
Durham
10
Worcestershire
MP
w
l
nrr
pts
Form Guide
12
4
0
-
186
D
W
D
D
W
12
5
1
-
185
W
D
D
D
D
12
4
2
-
163
D
D
W
D
D
12
3
1
-
159
D
D
W
D
D
12
2
3
-
140
D
D
W
L
D
12
3
4
-
138
D
L
L
D
D
12
3
4
-
135
D
W
D
W
D
12
2
2
-
132
D
D
D
D
D
12
2
5
-
126
D
L
L
D
D
12
1
7
-
88
L
D
L
D
L
pos
team
1
Leicestershire
2
Glamorgan
3
Derbyshire
4
Middlesex
5
Gloucestershire
6
Lancashire
7
Northamptonshire
8
Kent
MP
w
l
nrr
pts
Form Guide
12
6
1
-
205
D
D
W
L
D
12
5
2
-
180
D
W
W
D
D
12
2
2
-
153
D
D
L
L
D
12
4
4
-
150
D
D
W
W
L
12
1
3
-
146
D
D
L
D
D
12
2
3
-
139
D
L
W
W
D
12
2
4
-
137
D
D
L
D
W
12
2
5
-
109
D
D
L
D
D
Tongue, who played three of the five Tests against India earlier this summer, has picked up 23 wickets from five County Championship games this season at an average of 23.47. He also had a stellar Hundred campaign, ending up as the highest wicket-taker with 14 scalps from six innings at 11.07 runs per wicket.
