In his absence, the pace-bowling department of the Test team has been revolutionised. James Anderson and Stuart Broad have retired and Ollie Robinson has been dropped, giving way to the likes of Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Brydon Carse, Olly Stone and Josh Hull.
“It just shows the opportunities you can get as a young fast bowler,” added Tongue.
“I know if I’m fit and firing I’m decent bowler. I showed that last year. My main focus now is to get as fit as I can, get back bowling and see what happens.”
Tongue’s return is another boost for England, who have been hit by a number of fast-bowling injuries.
Jamie Overton and Saqib Mahmood, who have both struggled with back injuries, have been bowling on the white-ball tour of West Indies. Hull, who made his Test debut against Sri Lanka but missed the tour of Pakistan with a quad injury, is back in training and will join the Lions in South Africa.
Dillon Pennington, part of England squads in the early part of the summer, then out with a hamstring injury since August, is also included in the Lions squad.
The Lions, led for the first time by new head coach Andrew Flintoff, are in South Africa for almost a month, spending time on white-ball training, sharing sessions with the Young Lions squad, then playing a four-day match against South Africa A.
The tour of Australia in the new year will contain three red-ball matches and form part of the build-up to the Ashes series at the end of 2025. As well as Tongue, spinners Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed will be part of the Lions squad in order to familiarise themselves with Australian conditions.
The England senior men’s and women’s squads both leave the UK on Saturday for their tours of New Zealand and South Africa respectively.