Wood needs to put on a fast show if England are to fight fire with fire

FOLLOWING his surprise selection for the Second Test at Lord’s last week, Josh Tongue was described by his captain as a like-for-like replacement for Mark Wood but, in reality, England have no such thing

- Malik Quzia

It is a little bit like realising your local supermarket has started stocking your favourite French biscuits: brilliant find, great option to have, particularly when some of the old classics do not seem to be hitting the spot as they once did. But as good as the real thing picked up in Calais? Somehow, not quite.

That is no stain on Tongue, who has burst on to the international scene this summer and has already shown enough to suggest he will be around for a while. The 25-year-old bowled well at Lord’s, England’s most dangerous force in the first innings, when he picked up both openers with superb deliveries, and continuing his fine record against Steve Smith (not a bad player to have some hold over) by dismissing the Australian great for the second and third times in as many knocks. He could yet keep his place at Headingley on Thursday.

But even in a fantasy land where Ben Stokes were choosing between that now infamous cartel of eight fast bowlers he once dreamed of having available for this series, Wood, in pace terms, would stand apart.