Not everyday would one find a £100 betting slip turn into a handsome sum of money, unless you are a certain Tim Piper from the English city of Birmingham. In what is a ‘Believe It Or Not’ story which has already spread like wildfire, a certain individual’s 14-year-old prophecy has become enough for the Goddess of fortune to smile at him like she seldom does.
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In fact, all it took was a 25-year-old Josh Tongue to become the 771st cricketer to earn the England Test cap, for this very Goddess to show her ever-benevolent side.
Having been pretty impressed by Tongue’s leg-spin bowling skills at a tender age of two, Tim had no doubt whatsoever that the boy had it in him to represent England at the highest level. Years later, in 2008, he would go on to place a random bet at 500-1 odds that this talented boy would end up playing Test cricket for England one fine day.
Betting On A Josh Tongue Test Debut, Birmingham Man Becomes £50,000 Richer
A pub landlord and Josh Tongue’s family friend, Tim, has become the most popular man in the whole of Redditch (town south of Birmingham) after his prophecy has fetched him £50,000 (around INR 51 lakh).
During an interaction with BBC Radio 5 LIVE, Tim revealed the time when Tongue had first bowled leg-spin to him at the latter’s backyard. Quite impressed by his skill level at such an age, he would later reveal how the Worcestershire bowler was way ahead of the rest of his mates as he grew older.
“This little lad starts bowling leg-spin to me like it’s what Shane Warne used to bowl. I used to just watch him playing cricket round the outfield with other big boys and he was just miles ahead of them. You just knew. And then he starts bowling in the nets to us when he’s about four. He’s bowling leg-spin and it’s amazing how he actually knows the deliveries that he’s bowling at this age.”
🏏Josh Tongue has earned his family friend £50,000 after making his Test debut for England yesterday.
💰 When Tongue was just 11, Tim Piper bet £100 – at odds of 500 to 1 – that he would go on to play a Test for England.
Tim spoke to 5 Live Breakfast about his big win. pic.twitter.com/ogY6bsgFvx
— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) June 2, 2023
It is worth of a mention that, Tongue, initially started as a leg-spinner when he represented the Worcestershire U10 side at the age of only six.
Josh Tongue’s Numbers So Far On Test Debut
The right-arm pacer went wicket-less during the first innings of the ongoing Test at Lord’s, and returned with bowling figures of 13-4-40-0. However, he removed each of the three Irish wickets during the second innings by Stumps, Day 2.
On his very first over, he scalped his first international wicket by dismissing Peter Moor (11) leg before wicket. On the last delivery of the very over, he also got rid of the Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie (2).
