Leach: It’s nice to be a cult hero but I don’t know what that is. People see a bald guy with glasses and think: That could be me

insane and I’m just playing for England.

“A few people said, ‘How nice would it be to score the winning runs’? And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve thought about it and it would be nice, but I don’t want to be in that position in the first place!’ It was one of them where I’d rather not have had to do anything!”

It is hard to underestimate the part played by Leach in staying with Stokes to make 10th-wicket history when others had fallen by the wayside.

Not only did he duck the bouncers and bravely get in line when he needed to, the small act of cleaning his glasses helped take time out of the game to make sure Stokes got a breather as the demands on his body increased.

Surrey fitness coach Darren Veness, who worked with Leach at Somerset and with England in Sri Lanka, noted the message it sent Australia: You’ll bowl when I’m ready and my mate has caught his breath – and not before.

Leach added: “I just had to make sure they were clean every enjoying time I was facing because I would really regret it if they had been smudged and I’d got out, then they zoom in on the glasses and say, ‘He didn’t clean his glasses’.

“It’s been hot a couple of times. I had to stay calm and do the job at hand. I felt good out there, I was focused on what I needed to do.”

When Leach walked out to bat, 73 runs were still needed, and even those who wanted to believe the impossible could still happen had difficulty in seeing anything other than an Australia win, which would have sealed the Ashes.

Even Stuart Broad admitted as much after the game – and yet Stokes believed, which made Leach believe too.

Leach said: “Stokesy makes you believe you can do anything. Walking out with 73 to win, I