Josh Tongue's England test debut helps his family friend win 50,000 Euros, Here's how

Josh Tongue became 711th player to represent England in the longest format.

25-year-old Right arm pacer from Worcestershire, Joshua Tongue has earned his English test cap and became the 711th player to represent England. Josh Tongue has made his test debut against Ireland at The Lord’s. With his test debut, Tongue has also made one of his close family friends earn 50,000 pounds. His friend will earn this amount for a bet he placed 14 years ago with hopes of Josh Tongue making his test debut. Tongue’s family friend Tim Piper placed a bet of 100 pounds on Josh Tongue’s cricket career at odds of 500 to 1. Now, when Tongue is bowling his inswingers against Irish batters, Piper will be counting the money. 

Time Piper is 56 years old and Josh Tongue's father’s teammate at Redditch Cricket Club when they both were playing together during the early 90s. Piper said, “I have kept the bet slip in the cupboard all these years… I just thought to myself that it must be worth 100 pounds. If he doesn’t make it, he would make us proud anyway”. Piper’s bet slip clearly states that ‘to play a Test for England’. Josh Tongue started his cricket at an early age as a leg spinner then after moving away from Redditch he started pace bowling. 

Josh Tongue has played county cricket for Worcestershire and has done magnificently well for his county team. The tongue has played for 47 first-class games and has picked up 162 wickets before making his debut for England. England started well against Ireland. At the tea break, Ireland are 7 down for 162 runs. Stuart Broad made Ireland's top order struggle by picking up 3 early wickets. Josh Tongue is yet to pick up his first test wicket.