Leach: I am here to stay
ALL SET FOR A NIGHT UNDER THE LIGHTS AS LEYTON ORIENT ROLL INTO TOWN
JACK Leach finally feels he is here to stay in Test cricket after establishing himself as England’s number one spinner during their long winter in Asia.
Leach made his debut almost three years ago in New Zealand but had made only 10 appearances before the turn of the year. Several brushes with illness, including a dangerous bout of sepsis and a debilitating sickness bug on tour in South Africa, as well as the rival claims of Moeen Ali and Dom Bess, meant he had never quite felt like an undisputed first choice.
But heading into the final Test against India in Ahmedabad, he is inked into the role on the back of 26 wickets in his last five appearances in Sri Lanka, Chennai and Ahmedabad.
Neither Moeen nor Bess have been able to match his persistent or control when they have taken the field and the 29-year-old can start looking forward to extending his run on home soil in the summer.
“I don’t think I could really have expected much more of myself than how I’ve done and how I’ve got better through the tour,” he said.
“It has given me a lot of confidence that I can go on and play a lot for England and that I’m going to keep getting better and better.
“Whether that’s other people’s opinion, I don’t know and I can’t control whether I’m going to be first choice, second choice or 10th choice. It’s not about that for me, it’s about reaching my potential and playing as much as I can.
“I feel like I’ll go from strength to strength from here. My belief in myself is more than it has been in the past, and doing it out here in India, against some top batters, is great.
“I know I still have lots of hard work to do but I’ve seen how I can come back from disappointment or tough times in games and put in good performances.
“That’s more pleasing to me than having it all my own way and bowling sides out. Obviously that would be lovely and that’s where I want to get to, but to come through some tough moments in games and put in good performances has given me confidence.”
Leach looks likely to be reunited with his former Somerset teammate Bess this week, with another turning track anticipated after back-to-back wins for the hosts in extreme spinning conditions left them 2-1 up heading into the concluding match.
PAUL Hurst is urging his men to put Saturday’s defeat behind them and put all of their focus into tonight’s clash against Leyton Orient. Orient head to Blundell Park after sacking manager Ross Embleton and have installed Jobie McAnuff as interim boss.
While those changes add an element of the unknown in terms of what his side will face, Hurst is more concerned with making sure his own players replicate the performance and result they achieved in their last home game, the 2-1 win over Crawley.
Here is what the Grimsby Town manager had to say in his pre-match press conference...
On bouncing back...
As I’ve said to the players, realistically, for most weeks between now and the end of the season, you cannot celebrate a victory too much - and at the same time you can’t be down too much about a defeat.
We are obviously disappointed, but we have another game to focus on and it’s another opportunity to get some points. We won our last home game and we are keen to build on that as much as possible.
They have had a change of manager, and you are never sure what the reaction will be. If you speak to most people, they would rather that not have happened before you play them. In terms of preparation, we have done our homework as always. Whether Jobie McAnuff changes the system or personnel, we won’t know until tomorrow night, so we will focus on what we want to do and go from there. Once we see their team we will have a decent idea of how they will set-up. Having watched them previously we have picked up on a few things they are particularly good at and also areas where we feel they may be a little bit vulnerable that we can take advantage of.
On the type of game it will be...
Looking at Orient, they like to play it out from the back more.
I know they have had a change of manager, but knowing how Jobie (McAnuff) was as a player, it wouldn’t surprise me if they carry on in the same vein.
It creates different challenges for us and also opportunities in terms of whether you press, where you can win the ball back and the whole feel of the game.
The league we are in, a lot of games are different, and that’s what makes it different from a lot of football in other countries - and even in the Premier League where a lot of games are very similar. But I think League Two football can be extremely different from game to game.
On making changes...
We’ve had a look at them and spoken to a couple of individuals about how they are feeling after the weekend.
Harrogate made changes too and won the
game. You are only really pulled up on it if things don’t go your way, but that’s the life of being a manager. It wasn’t exactly wholesale changes.
We have got a squad of players here, some in truth are very much on the fringes, there’s no getting away from that, but some will get quite a bit of game time.
On maintaining belief...
There is a mental challenge to it, definitely. After Saturday it felt like they were quite low and down. I get that and I would be upset if they weren’t hurting. I had some time when I was down on Sunday - but you shake it off and get ready to go again. That’s life.
I myself am quite balanced. That’s ok when things are going well but then when it’s not, people think you don’t care, which is obviously far from the truth.
You want people to have emotions, but at the same time not let them overtake when it is on the negative side.
All that I can ask of the players is that they work extremely hard and give everything in terms of their own individual performance. Then you are hopeful you can get the bits of luck going your way.
The Town forward line...
Looking at the highlights on TV at the weekend, it didn’t show one of our chances. Now that’s their right, they put the TV packages together, but I looked at some of the other chances that were shown, and one of Harrogate’s was a cross that floated on top of the crossbar. They described it as a good effort. It was a mis-hit cross.
Sometimes things are portrayed in a certain way, but we know with us, we are not creating loads and loads of chances so we have to be clinical.
Stefan had one at the weekend on his left side that’s not his strongest and he didn’t quite take it. Hanson had a chance which if he had it again he would back himself to score.
We are hoping they do get a goal and it does set them off on a run.
We want them to be positive and decisive in whatever action they take.