Leach is ruled out of Ashes
Blow for England ahead of Aussies clash and there are still concerns over Stokes, too
ENGLAND’S Ashes plans have been dealt a huge blow after frontline spinner Jack Leach was ruled out of the series with a back stress fracture.
The 31-year-old has been a key figure under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, but they are now scrambling for another option with 11 days until the Ashes begin. England will name a replacement today, choosing between Leicestershire’s Rehan Ahmed, 18, or Surrey batter and part-time spinner Will Jacks.
How desperately disappointing for Leach, who had the total confidence of skipper Stokes to play a full part against Australia.
Just as all attention was on the state of Stokes’ knee and whether it was a genuine worry for the first Test at Edgbaston, along came yesterday’s news that Leach had suffered a stress fracture of the back.
It is a crushing blow for the spinner and for Stokes, who has done so much to make him an important part of the Bazball revolution and had again thrown him the ball early on day one of the thrashing of Ireland.
Leach seemingly developed lower-back problems while he was being hit for 56 in an eightover spell after lunch at Lord’s on Saturday. A scan revealed a stress fracture that will keep him out of five Ashes Tests in six-and-a-half weeks.
Both Ahmed and Jacks excelled on debut as spinbowling all-rounders in the winter victory over Pakistan, but Hampshire’s underrated slow left-armer Liam Dawson is another potential replacement.
The best short-term option would be Moeen Ali. However, he rejected the approaches of coach McCullum to feature in that 3-0 victory in Pakistan and, just back from the IPL, is unlikely to feature now.
Liam Livingstone, whose Test debut was cut short by injury in Pakistan, is another exciting option, being an explosive batsman and a bowler of both off and leg-spin. But he is felt to be the outsider at this stage.
As disappointing as this news is, the absence of Leach might even solve a problem for England because fears are growing that Stokes’ left knee will stop him bowling in the Ashes.
That means England could now leave out a specialist spinner for the first Test a week on Friday on the Edgbaston ground, which does not really suit slow bowling, and pick four seamers to cover for the likely absence of a fifth bowler in Stokes.
Joe Root, a more than decent off-spinner, could then carry the slow bowling load for England against an Australia side likely to contain four left-handers in their top seven, largely negating any advantage slow left-armer Leach would have had.
So England could field both Stuart Broad and the extreme pace of Mark Wood to join Jimmy Anderson and Ollie Robinson.
But they will need a specialist spinner at some point and opportunity could knock for leg-spinning all-rounder Ahmed, who burst on to the scene with a five-wicket haul in the final Test against Pakistan in Karachi last winter.
Or Jacks, 24, who took six wickets in an innings in the first Test in Rawalpindi with what had been considered occasional off-breaks but is best known for being an attacking middle-order batsman.
Whatever happens in the absence of Leach, who made the most famous one not out in Ashes history when partnering Stokes to an extraordinary victory over
Australia at Leeds in 2019, is another blow for England.
They have already seen Jofra Archer ruled out for the summer and Olly Stone is certain to miss at least the first three Tests with a hamstring problem. Then there have been minor issues with Anderson and Robinson, although England insist it will not stop them playing at Edgbaston.
The latest worry is the ongoing knee concerns of Stokes, who visibly winced with pain and then hobbled afterwards when he took the routine catch of Curtis Campher at short fine-leg during Ireland’s resistance at Lord’s. It is set to dominate England’s thinking as they depart to play golf in Scotland this week as part of their build-up. Stokes was adamant he is on course to bowl at Edgbaston and spent 20 minutes before play on Saturday trying to prove it. But will even his super-human qualities and pure adrenalin be enough to enable him to fulfil the fourth seamer’s role that remains crucial to the balance of the side?
At least England have found another genuine alternative to Wood in Josh Tongue, who took five wickets on his first appearance at Lord’s in the Ireland second innings.
His emergence proved another inspired selection ahead of Chris Woakes here by an England side who have got just about everything right over the last year.