UNLIKELY HERO
He’s overcome an illegal action and battles with Crohn’s disease. Now Jack Leach is England’s . . .
Although he has made a name for himself on another continent as an international spin bowler of repute, for the majority of his life Jack leach’s cricket journey spanned no longer than the school run.
Raised a mile from taunton, taken to his first Somerset match by father Simon at two weeks old, he remains in his own words ‘a bit of a fan’ of the club.
‘I first saw him as a young whipper-snapper of about seven or eight,’ recalls Somerset director of cricket Andy hurry. ‘he came to our Saturday morning clubs with his younger brother, his dad and his dog. Straightaway there was something a little bit different about him.
‘Other boys wanted to bowl fast but he was content being a leftarm spinner. the others had no chance againstst the ball turning away from rom them. You could see him flourishing quicker than those around him.’
Over the next 20 years, leach became a part of the furniture at the County ground, alternating playing for Somerset’s agegroup sides, alongside side England team-mate Jos Buttler, and cheering on the first XI from the stands.
When he was 10, he wrote a letter to Marcus trescothick to wish him both a happy birthday and Christmas. these days trescothick stands at slip waiting to gobble up the chances created by a man known as Nut due to his bald head.
There is a link between bowler and catcher in off-field adversity too: while trescothick publicly battled the mental health issues that deprived him of an England career at its zenith, leach kept private his struggles with Crohn’s disease until this trip to Sri lanka.
With rich and spicy foods, excessive carbohydrates late at night and caffeine all irritants for the bowel condition, touring can be tough. ‘the way he goes about his business you would never know,’ hurry adds. ‘He has a very strong awareness of what he can and can’t do, how he can offset it and how to react if it comes on. he doesn’t panic, is very calm and measured.’
Leach, 27, revealed those same traits two years ago when routine biomechanics testing at the ECB’s loughborough performance centre revealed an illegal action.
Being considered a cheat was a smarting stigma but Chris Marshall, the ECB psychologist, persuaded the slow left-armer to put emotion to one side as he remodelled it.
Home is undoubtedly where the heart is for leach: 61 of his last 81 Championship wickets have come at taunton, a stumble from the driveway where England’s 684th test cricketer perfected perfected the control that made him Joe Root’s go-to man in the 3-0 whitewash. Growing up in a ‘ very narrow house, with a very narrow garden’ proved crucial. The thought of losing the ball into next door’s garden focused the mind and ensured the adolescent leach became a stickler for accuracy. Opponents of taunton Deane, his boyhood club, could not get him away. Ditto, at times, the Sri lankans.
One of his 18 wickets was caught by lifelong pal Buttler — for whom he performed usher duties last year. Word is they could be reunited as county team-mates again from 2020 onwards as Buttler’s lancashire contract runs out next summer.
A caveat to that, however, is that so does leach’s. A lack of white-ball opportunities needs to be addressed to prevent him slipping through the net and contract negotiations are on hold until after the Caribbean tests finish in February.
At which point his standing within the game may have moved on a considerable distance further.