June 1 (Reuters) - One lucky punter who believed 14 years ago that Josh Tongue would one day play for England and placed a cheeky bet will win 50,000 pounds ($63,000) when the fast bowler makes his international debut against Ireland on Thursday.
Tim Piper had watched Tongue play when he was just an 11-year-old and placed a 100-pound bet at odds of 500-1 that he would play a test match for England in the future.
"I've kept the bet slip in a cupboard all these years," Piper told BBC Sport.
Tongue had, however, contemplated retirement during a 15-month shoulder-injury layoff from 2021-2022 before two operations and botox injections fixed the issue.
($1 = 0.7923 pounds)Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Josh, Tim Piper, I've, Piper, Phil, Shane Warne, James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Rohith Nair, Pritha Sarkar
Organizations:
England, Ireland, BBC Sport, Lord's, Thomson
Locations:
Worcestershire, Bengaluru