Tongue ruled out of Australia white-ball tour as Rashid stars in Perth warm-up

England fast bowler Josh Tongue has been ruled out of the upcoming white-ball tour of Australia after suffering a toe injury in Pakistan last month; he will return to the UK for further assessment and will miss the one-day and T20 matches that begin with an ODI in Perth on 13 November.

Tongue, 28, did not take part in the final two games of that tri-series in Pakistan and has taken 46 wickets in 17 matches this year; he recorded 18 wickets in the 2025-26 Ashes series in Australia, and the white-ball tour will be England's first visit down under since that Ashes defeat.

Coach Brendon McCullum had said he wanted a strong side for the ODI leg as preparation for the World Cup in southern Africa next year, while conceding he would need to rotate his squad for the T20 matches because of a busy winter featuring five separate overseas tours.

In a one-day warm-up in Perth, leg-spinner Adil Rashid took 4-35 as England beat Western Australia by 92 runs; Rashid, 38, had been left out of the final three matches of the October tour of Pakistan and Sri Lanka but returned to take four wickets in the warm-up.

England were bowled out for 251 in the warm-up, with Ben Duckett top-scoring on 49 and Liam Dawson finishing unbeaten on 44; Western Australia reached 60-1 before Rashid produced a burst that included Jayden Goodwin and Ashton Turner in successive deliveries, and Jofra Archer then took 3-34 to bowl the hosts out for 159.

Tongue is likely to be back for the three-match Test series in South Africa in December, with the squad for that tour set to be named next week.