If Leach can put different spin on deliveries he could make his mark
Monty Panesar believes England’s unlikely hero must add variation to rip out Australia’s batsmen
It has been a series of magnificent theatre, as rich as any Ashes. If the stars have been Steve Smith, who dazzled yet again with his unique brand of batsmanship, or swordsmanship, along with Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, then Australia’s fast bowlers and Stuart Broad have played major supporting roles, with David Warner the anti-hero.
Yet something has been missing while Smith has been reeling off runs and batsmen have been heading bouncers like centre-forwards in front of goal.
Spin bowling has been marginalised even further than normal for Test cricket in England. Both countries have had multiple selection issues this
summer, but whether they should pick a second spinner has never been one of them. Spin may assume a decisive role on the final afternoon of this fourth Test, but to date Australia’s Nathan Lyon and England’s Jack Leach have not been notable for their primary roles.
Among contemporary film stars, royals and celebrities, there may be a more famous single person, but nobody has been more famous than Leach for making a single – not since pop groups released their hits on vinyl.
When Leach walked out to bat on the fourth afternoon – with England needing 15 from their last pair to avert the notional possibility of following on – dozens of lookalikes in another capacity crowd were wearing his style of glasses, and stockings instead of hair, and shirts with number one on their back, and less than perfect teeth.
Yet Leach received a hero’s welcome for contributing that solitary single to the last-wicket stand of 76 with Stokes at Headingley, as he had for making his face-saving 92 as nightwatchman against Ireland at Lord’s, and as he did again for averting the follow-on with Jos Buttler.
But a breakthrough after Broad and Archer had reduced Australia to 44 for four was more elusive for Somerset’s left-arm spinner.
Leach tried bowling over and round the wicket to rid England of Smith, but it was only after Smith had extended his own record of eight consecutive Ashes fifties to nine that Leach had him caught at long-off, when Australia’s champion was trying to expedite the declaration, rather than prioritising his fourth century in five innings in this series.
“Jack’s a traditional left-arm spinner,” said England’s best left-arm spinner of the last generation. Monty Panesar took 167 wickets in his 50 Tests, and excelled at Old Trafford in particular.
He took 18 wickets in the 2006 and 2007 Tests against Pakistan and West Indies by extracting exceptional bounce as much as turn.
Panesar’s advice to Leach: “His action needs to be more side-on, and if he pivots more he will get more drift.”
He noted that when Leach dismissed Smith for 118 in Australia’s first innings – only he was no-balled – Leach landed the ball outside off stump, and the best batsmen do not make the same mistake twice. If Leach can rip the ball landing on middle stump, however, “that will keep him in the side”.
Spin can still decide this series when England have to bat out the final day to keep their chance of regaining the Ashes alive – and it is important they disrupt Lyon, according to Panesar.
“You want him to mix up his lengths so he doesn’t get into a rhythm. I think Nathan Lyon has been brilliant and I like his temperament,” Panesar said. “He is all about bowling his best ball even if it is not his day. He’ll just change his field and keep trying to bowl his best ball.
“How do we play Nathan Lyon? Do we rely on defence or try and put pressure on him?
“Sometimes a shimmy down the wicket is good, but not necessarily to go through with the shot.
“You can’t afford to play him too much off the back foot because he gets so much bounce.”
Panesar retains fond memories of Old Trafford: “I’m only 37 and I’d love to sign for Lancashire next season – if they pick me, I’ll win the championship for them. My fingers are itching.”
More immediately, England will have to summon up the same level of defiance as Panesar and James Anderson in their last-ditch stand at Cardiff, when they drew the game and thereby kept England in the 2009 Ashes series.
Somehow, on that last nerveracking evening, Australia captain Ricky Ponting thought that the gentle part-time off-spin of Marcus North was more likely to dismiss Anderson or Panesar than the brute pace of Mitchell Johnson.
This series has been “brutal”, in Broad’s words, and that may not alter at the climax on the final day.