Crane pain is Jack’s gain
JACK LEACH has received his first senior England call-up after Mason Crane was ruled out of the New Zealand tour with a stress fracture of the lower back. The injury is tough on Crane, who made his Test debut in the final Ashes match in Sydney in January and would have been hoping to add to that during the two-match series here. The 21-year-old leg-spinner picked up what was thought to be a minor back injury on the recent England Lions tour of the Caribbean. But he will be flying home in the next 24 hours after two scans this week revealed a stress fracture that will keep him out for at least 10 weeks. Adil Rashid would have been selected to replace Crane on this tour had he not chosen to effectively end his Test career by signing a white-ball-only contract with Yorkshire last month.
Instead, Crane’s misfortune presents an opportunity for Leach after years of being overlooked.
The Somerset leftarm spinner has taken 116 wickets in the County Championship over the past two summers and was outstanding on the Lions trip to the West Indies, where he took 18 wickets in three unofficial Tests. Crane took just one in two matches. Leach was parking trolleys when he worked at Sainsbury’s in Taunton a decade ago while coming through the Somerset academy. Now the 26-year-old has a chance to establish himself in England’s senior set-up ahead of the summer and next winter’s tour of Sri Lanka. England bowling coach Chris Silverwood, left, said: “He’s done well in county cricket and with the Lions, so he’s the one in line to come in. We’re looking forward to getting him here.” James Anderson, who claimed 2-41 as England took 13 wickets on the first day of their final two-day warm-up match against a New Zealand XI here in Hamilton, had words of encouragement for Crane. “Around that age you are susceptible to those stress injuries but the advice the lads will be giving him is that he’s young, has plenty of time on his hands, is a serious talent and if he works hard I’m sure he’ll come back strongly,” he said.
Anderson revealed Stuart Broad was upset to be denied the new ball on the first day of the warm-up match. The pair are England’s all-time leading wicket-takers but their new-ball partnership is at risk of being terminated when the opening day-night Test against New Zealand starts in Auckland on Thursday after Chris Woakes shared the honour with Anderson.
“Obviously he’s disappointed,” said Anderson. “He’s a very proud bloke and we have opened the bowling for a number of years.”
Broad was arguably the pick of England’s seamers in Hamilton yesterday, taking 2-36.
He’s young, a serious talent and if he works hard he’ll come back strongly