England left-arm spinner Jack Leach, most famous for his last-wicket stand with Ben Stokes in the epic Ashes Test at Headingley, might have slipped down the hierarchy in the Bazball era. But Australia’s off-spinning legend Nathan Lyon believes the spectacled tweaker is England’s best bet in the Ashes tour later this year.
In a press conference for a sponsorship event, he said: “In my eyes, Jack Leach is still their best spinner.” He explains the reason, while not berating the skills of England’s spinner-in-chief Shoaib Bashir: “It is a massive role, and it can be a massive challenge for people who haven’t done it in the past in these conditions,” Lyon said of spin bowling in Australia.
“But I’m not going to let my secrets out so they come out and perform well out here. Our guys know how to play spin really well in this country. That’s probably what helped me produce my skill to where it is at the moment. I know I’ll keep trying getting better, and we’ll see how their spinners go,” he said.
The 34-year-old had featured in three Tests Down Under, and nabbed a second-inning four-wicket haul the Ashes of 2021. Besides, he is England’s most experienced spinner, with 39 Tests to his name. Leach, missed the 2023 Ashes in England with a back injury, but is currently the leading spinner in the County Championship’s first division this season, with 39 wickets at 24.76, twice taking six wickets in an innings.
However, England seemed to have moved on from him. “I obviously played with Jimmy Anderson last year at Lancashire, and they basically said that they’re picking Bashir to do what I do. So I took a little bit of pride out of Jimmy respecting a little bit of what I’ve been able to do in my career. But Bashir has been okay,” he said.
England are also grooming Jacob Bethell, a batsman who bowls left-arm spin, rated highly by English pundits. “Jacob Bethell is playing this Test match (tonight at The Oval) and he looks like he’ll take up the spin bowling from Liam Dawson,” he added.
After a career-stalling knee injury in 2023, Leach had almost relinquished his Test dreams, but for Ben Stokes’s phone call. “It reminded me I was going about things in the right way, and gave me confidence I had still had something to offer the team. That gave me good motivation for the remainder of the summer,” he told Daily Mail.
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“It’s great playing for England, then the injuries happened and you find yourself really down,’ he said. ‘Why am I here? I felt like I needed to rediscover that kid-like mentality of why you play the game. ‘“You have that on the journey to playing for England. It’s tiring, stressful. The upsides, the opportunity, all the things Baz [McCullum] talks to us about, I felt like I loved them but maybe I was being a bit of a fraud – enjoying them but not living by them,” he added.
