Jack Leach: I do not care about being England’s No 1 spinner
It is his favourite wicket, he says, and no wonder. In the dusk of Rawalpindi two years ago, with time perhaps for one more over in the opening Test, Jack Leach was bowling at Pakistan’s last pair.
“It was a newish ball and I tried to bowl it as fast and straight as I could,” Leach recalled two days out from what will be the series decider this time in Rawalpindi – and he pinned Naseem Shah leg before wicket. All that effort which England had expended – like scoring 657 at six-and-a-half per over, the fastest Test innings of its size ever – was not wasted.
Two years on Leach is back, and that is an achievement in itself. No England cricketer has been so afflicted by illnesses, starting with Crohn’s, and injuries, like the one in his right knee from which he hobbled home after the India tour earlier this year, but not before taking a wicket while injured.
To add salt to that wound, England last summer promoted Shoaib Bashir to be their first-choice spinner. Leach had played a significant role in his growth: when Bashir, unwanted anywhere else, was given a trial by Somerset Seconds, Leach enthused to their captain Steve Davies about his bowling action and said: “We’ve got to sign him.”
And even when Leach recovered last season, Bashir remained England’s No 1 spinner, which effectively means England’s one and only spinner at home. Bashir was a 20 year-old novice, Leach had more than a hundred Test wickets.
Then came Bashir’s five-wicket haul against West Indies in the second Test in Nottingham in July – and, immediately afterwards, a phone call from Ben Stokes to say that he, Jack, was not being forgotten. They do go back some way, to their last-wicket stand in the Headingley Test of 2019, but it was still some empathetic timing by Stokes to ring up and reassure his old partner.
Spinner thought international days were over
Now, on this tour, Leach says he has not been told whether he is number one spinner or number two, and he does not care. Last summer, excluded by England but wanted by Somerset, he learnt to simplify his cricket, regain confidence after his latest knee operation, and go back to enjoying it.
“After a long time out with injury, I maybe felt that might be it [for his England career], even though I knew this tour was the other side of the summer,” Leach said. “At that point it was very much about me getting back to my best and enjoying my cricket, and being injury-free for a good amount of time. My time over the summer with Somerset I really enjoyed and got lots of bowling in, building that confidence in my body that I could still do it over a long period of time. That was brilliant. I came into this series quite relaxed and feeling I’d rediscovered what I do well, and just to stick to that.
“I couldn’t have asked for more [communication from the England management]. I really understood the situation. If you’re not able to stay fit, then other people come in and do well, and Bash certainly did that. I couldn’t be happier for him as well. There are lots of positives from the summer, then I tried to take those into this series.” Leach says he does not want to over-load Bashir with advice, but is always there, while Bashir has helped him in return.
The consequence has been a couple of golden months. Since championship cricket was allowed to return in late August, Leach has taken exactly 50 in seven first-class games: 36 in five for Somerset (including nine in their epic victory over Surrey) and 14 in the two Tests here, seven in each of the Multan games. So no need at all for Stokes or Brendon McCullum to spell out who the No 1 spinner is: Leach has 14 wickets – the most of any bowler on either side – at 26 each, Bashir six at 51.
(One amazing omission: in the Metro Bank 50-over final, at a sodden Trent Bridge, his Somerset captain did not give the form bowler of the moment one over in the match abbreviated to 20 overs a side, but went with a young opening batsman who offered some medium-pace instead.)
Leach had not seen the above Rawalpindi pitch – England are not training at the ground until Tuesday – but was delighted to see the crazy-paving cracks in the photograph on Telegraph Sport. And he has earned a bit of help along the way: to have taken 140 Test wickets, at 33, is some feat for a spinner who went off to Cardiff University because he could not secure a contract with his native county, but who has always refused to be daunted.
