josh tongue claimed his 100th first class wicket in helping to put worcestershire in command of their specsavers county championship match with durham at New Road.
the 21-year-old reached the personal milestone with his second victim in durham’s second innings when he bowled ned eckersley.
it came in his 28th first class match and his 5-37 was his fifth five wicket haul.
tongue’s first victim was steve leach – brother of worcestershire ccc captain joe – in the opening match of the 2016 season against oxford mccu.
he picked up 47 championship wickets in his first full campaign in 2017 and followed that up with 40 division one wickets in 11 games last summer despite missing two and a half months with a foot injury.
tongue said: “it is great getting a five-for for worcestershire and it has put us in a good position to chase some runs down.
“it is good to have those runs on the board to help you out when we bowl. to get early wickets just put them under the pump a bit.
“the pitch is a bit up and down. it’s about making sure you hit the pitch hard and try and get as much out of it as you can and luckily it has done for me.
“to get 100 wickets is good achievement for myself at the start of my third year but i try not to think about that too much and try and think about the game going forward.
“we bowl as a pack and if one person gets wickets, we always back them up so it’s all good.”
tongue was delighted to see the return of paceman and club captain joe leach who finished with match figures of 34.5-5-108-6 in his first game after recovering from a stress fracture of the back.
he said: “joe is an outstanding bowler and has been for worcestershire for many years now so it is great to have him back in the team.
“he is a great bowler for us. the amount of wickets he gets for worcestershire is phenomenal and to have that in the side is amazing for us.”
