Just Stop Oil Group's protest delays England cricket stars' approach to Lord's for Ireland Test

England cricketers were stopped by a group of environmental activists ahead of the one-off Test against Ireland, which will begin on June 1. The activist group, Just Stop Oil, held up England’s team bus as stumper-batter Jonny Bairstow shared the image of the same and stated that if the team arrives late, then it’s not their fault.

Notably, three of the protesters were standing in front of the bus but eventually, it didn’t affect the team much. The team bus arrived at Lord’s just five minutes late and soon after the players changed to hit the ground running for practice.

The 33-year-old suffered a horrific injury in September 2022 and because of the same, he was ruled out of the T20 World Cup and from the series against Australia, Pakistan and New Zealand. Thus, the one-off Test against Ireland will see the return of Jonny Bairstow to the playing XI. He will be replacing Ben Foakes in the playing XI, who on the other hand, had a fantastic season last year.

Josh Tongue is all set to make his England debut against Ireland

Meanwhile, in the absence of Jofra Archer, James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue is set to make his international debut. Speaking about the same, the 25-year-old, stated that it’s a dream come true moment for him.

"It's an amazing feeling. Speechless really, even from when I got the first call-up to be in the squad. Now being in the actual team, it's just a dream come true really. I bowled at some of the lads on Monday. I felt like I bowled nicely and obviously, I was going in with no expectations to be playing at all and just bowling at high-class players at the nets was just good for me. I must have bowled fairly well to get selected," Tongue was quoted as saying by the Mirror.

“I've never played at Lord's before for Worcester so it's my first time being here and experiencing the ground as a player. I've been a fan in the crowd but never played. It's going to be a very emotional day for my dad. He's that sort of character,” Tongue further added.