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England have suffered a blow with news that fast bowler Josh Tongue has suffered a setback to his pectoral injury and will be sidelined indefinitely.

Despite not having played at any level since August last year, Tongue was among the front runners to replace James Anderson when the veteran quick retires from Test cricket after the first Test against the West Indies.

Tongue has been battling a pectoral complaint since impressing in two Test match appearances last year and was sidelined for England's white-ball tour of the Caribbean and ICC World Test Championship series in India at the start of this year.

The latest setback will mean Tongue will miss England's three-match series at home against the West Indies and put the 26-year-old in doubt for the three-game series against Sri Lanka that follows.

A statement from England said: “Josh has had a setback to his original injury. There is no timescale on when he’ll return to action.”

Tongue burst onto the scene with a five-wicket haul on debut for England in the second innings of their one-off Test against Ireland and then earned another cap in the second Ashes Test when collecting five scalps for the match against Australia at Lord's.

Tongue has been earmarked as a potential replacement for Anderson, with the experienced fast bowler retiring from Test cricket following the first Test of England's summer against the West Indies at Lord's at the start of July.