Josh Tongue is set to make his first Vitality Blast appearance of the summer for Worcestershire Rapids in Sunday’s encounter with Leicestershire Foxes at the Uptonsteel County Ground (2.30pm start).
Head Coach Alan Richardson confirmed the pace bowler has been made available after being released from first Ashes Test duties with England at Edgbaston.
Tongue made a dream full debut for England with five second innings wickets in the one-off Test victory over Ireland at Lord’s.
He has been selected as part of the squad for the first two Tests against Australia but was not included in the team for the opening game of the series in Birmingham.
Richardson said: “Josh is part of the squad for Sunday after being made available by England.”
The Rapids have named a 15 strong squad as they look to regain the momentum demonstrated in the opening part of the tournament.
Tongue, Jake Libby, Ben Gibbon and Taylor Cornall are added to the players in action against Birmingham Bears at New Road on Friday evening.
Assistant Head Coach, Kadeer Ali, is confident the Rapids have the ability in their squad to regain the winning touch.
He said: “We’re naturally disappointed after the start we had but this is T20 cricket and, around the world, you see teams get off to a flying start, then have a bit of a wobble and have a strong back end to a tournament.
“We are hoping for a strong finish now and we’ve got more than enough good players to turn this around.
“We showed in the first four games how good we can be.
“There have been quite a few lads threatening to get a big score in all of the games and we are not far away from someone getting in, and cashing in, and making a big score that wins us the game.
“I honestly feel that is just around the corner.”
