It’s been a busy summer for Josh Tongue, who has enjoyed representing Nottinghamshire, England in an enthralling Test series against India, and more recently, Manchester Originals in The Hundred.

He returned to the Notts camp last week as preparations get underway for the Green and Golds' return to red ball cricket, with a trip to face Worcestershire at New Road on Monday as the first of the side’s last three games in the Rothesay County Championship.

“I finished last Tuesday with Manchester Originals then I had two days off, before I was straight back in with a red ball in my hand,"he said.

"I haven’t had too much time off as I needed to get my overs up before the Championship starts, but the body’s feeling all good so I’m looking forward to next week.

“It’s always a big switch going from white ball and the 50-over competition, but we’ve had some good training days and it’s been good to be back around the lads. We’ve trained hard, we’ll have had some good sessions going into Monday’s game.”

After a year sidelined with injuries to his pectoral and then hamstring muscle in 2024, nothing has been more pleasing for Tongue than returning to regular competitive action across all formats – and taking wickets in the process.

The fast bowler was the leading men's wicket taker in The Hundred over the month of August, and whilst his side didn’t progress into the knockout stages, he was pleased on a personal level.

“Last year was tough with both my injuries. The last time I played white ball cricket before this summer’s Hundred was in 2023, so to put on good performances for Manchester Originals was pleasing," he said. 

“Obviously we didn’t get to the semis and finals but on a personal note I was very happy with how I contributed to the team.”

Perhaps the highlight of his summer was being England’s lead wicket-taker in what turned out to be an enthralling five-Test encounter with India. Tongue took multiple lower-order wickets to stifle the visitors' ability to build bigger leads, with 19 scalps to his name across the series against some of the world’s finest batters.

“It was an amazing series to be a part of, and I just wanted to contribute to the team as much as I could to try and win games," he recalled. 

“Obviously we couldn’t get over the line to win the series but it was still an amazing series to be a part of.”

Nottinghamshire’s return to red ball action on Monday excites Tongue, who makes up part of a 14-man squad for the trip to the West Midlands.

The occasion will also mark the first time Tongue has returned to play against his former club. 

“It’s obviously going to be a bit strange for me, I’ve spoken to Dill and Haynes (Dillon Pennington and Jack Haynes) about it as they’ve obviously played against them a few times now (since moving to Notts)," he said. 

“But I’m just going to go there and be as chilled as I can; that’s how I go about playing my cricket anyway.

“My main focus is to win that game for Notts. It’s a big month for us as a club and all the fans are going to be excited as well.

“But we’ll just focus on taking on Worcester next week and go from there, and try and stay as present as we can.”

There’s no denying the importance of the next three games, as the business end of the season comes into view. 

“It is all to play for, it’s quite tight at the top of the table but this is why we play cricket, we want to win Championships," said Tongue. 

“We’ve obviously got Surrey the week after but as I said we’re just focussing on the Worcester game now, that’s our main focus at the minute.”

Play will commence at 10.30am tomorrow, follow the stream live here.