From cult hero to zero as errant Leach puts his foot in it big time
JACK LEACH earned himself free glasses for life from Ashes sponsors Specsavers at Headingley.
UGG Boots may well be interested in a promotional deal after yesterday’s no-ball blunder.
Footwear brands will be queuing up with oversized products after Leach put his foot in it big time at Old Trafford.
The no-ball belatedly picked up by the TV replays after Steve Smith had been caught at slip off Leach was described by Geoff Boycott as a “muppet moment”.
It is one that may end up costing England the Ashes.
On 118 at the time of his reprieve, Smith went on to score 211 and bat England into the tightest of corners in this Test.
One way or another Smith has defined these Ashes. In the three Tests he has played, he has been out in the middle for so long he may be developing agoraphobia.
England have scratched their heads all summer as to how to dismiss him. So, having seemingly done so, inviting him back to the crease was a hanging offence.
Any no-ball from a spinner is a super-sized unforced error.A no-ball after a delivery that has just removed the world’s best batsman is the stuff of nightmares.
There was simply no excuse for Leach overstepping.The Somerset left-armer’s flat-footed run-up – which barely breaks into a trot – covers just nine paces.
He has sent down more than 15,000 deliveries in his first-class career.Yesterday was only his eighth no-ball.Talk about bad timing.
It had looked a picture-perfect dismissal as the ball dipped and turned, inducing the outside edge from a batsman who had appeared to be operating with a wand.
The Australian magician turned to see the ball loop into the hands of Ben Stokes and – unusually in a butter-fingered afternoon session from England – remain in his grasp.
Smith headed for the pavilion and was halfway there when the replays revealed the telltale position of Leach’s right foot.
The batsman turned around, headed back and needed no second invitation to tuck in for more.And more.And more.
He may resemble Klunk from Wacky Races with his twitches and convulsions but Smith is Australian cricket’s version of Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific.
Leach was the only English bowler to discomfort him all day, with the one-man run factory fortunate not to hole out when he miscued the spinner shortly beforehand.
But when Leach’s big moment came his feet let him down – and Smith made him pay a particularly high price with two blows for six as he rubbed it in cruelly.
Leach’s status as a cult hero after Headingley had one group of fans dress as him at Old Trafford, complete with bald caps, glasses and cloths to clean them. But comedy turned to sporting tragedy in one agonising moment.
Of course Leach only bats in glasses – he does not bowl in them. Maybe he should. He might see the popping crease more clearly.
SQUIRES