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Jack Leach ruled out of Ashes series with back stress fracture in major blow for England
England’s Ashes preparations have been rocked by the news that a certain starter for the first Test at Edgbaston, spinner Jack Leach, has been ruled out of the series with a stress fracture of the back.
Leach, 31, has been an ever-present under the leadership of Ben Stokes over the past year and was labelled by former captain Michael Vaughan as England’s key player for the upcoming series in his Telegraph Sport column on Saturday.
England will now have to do without him for the remainder of the summer. Leach took four wickets in the Test win over Ireland but experienced pain in his back on Saturday. As a precaution, he was sent for a scan on Sunday, which revealed the injury. He is expected to be ruled out for much of the rest of the year.
England are yet to name a replacement for Leach, but will be picking from a thin field when the selectors convene early this week. Since Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over last year, they have tended to be creative when picking a second spinner, with Liam Livingstone, Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed all handed debuts. Ahmed is perhaps the likeliest but it is possible England turn back to Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid or Liam Dawson, experienced cricketers who have not been involved in the revolutionary new setup.
Another option would be to do without a frontline spinner and rely on Joe Root’s off-spin, but that would go against Stokes’ philosophy as a captain. It would, however, allow them to pick four seamers and ease the pressure on the skipper, who turned 32 on Sunday, to return to bowling. He is insistent that he will be fit to play a full part as an all-rounder but is battling chronic tendonitis in his left knee and only bowled in practise for the first time in four weeks on Saturday. He did not bat or bowl in the match against Ireland.
Leach has played all 13 Tests under Stokes, and has 124 wickets from 35 matches since his debut five years ago. This continues what is a pattern of highs and lows that have also seen him hospitalised with sepsis in New Zealand in 2019 and experience long periods out of the side. He has also bowled England to a number of Test victories, notably with 10 wickets at Headingley against New Zealand last year, while being a useful, unusual contributor with the bat. He scored 92 against Ireland as a nightwatchman in 2019, then made a brave one not out to help Stokes carry England over the line in the Ashes at Headingley.
Leach had appeared a banker alongside a seam attack that has struggled with injury this summer. Jofra Archer is out with a stress fracture of the elbow, Olly Stone is sidelined for the next few weeks with a hamstring injury, while James Anderson (groin) and Ollie Robinson (ankle) also missed the game against Ireland as a precaution. Josh Tongue made his debut ahead of Chris Woakes, and Mark Wood will be available after paternity leave as one of seven frontline seamers in the squad of 15 that will assemble at Edgbaston a week on Monday ahead of the first of five Tests before the end of July.
Australia were likely to target Leach remorselessly and England are unlikely to take a backward step when replacing him. Ahmed, who has played just one Test and three limited-overs internationals for England, would be an extremely adventurous selection given his inexperience, and the requirement of England’s spinner to provide some control while their seamers rest. Jacks or Livingstone would bolster their already power-packed batting but are also inexperienced spinners.
An SOS call to a more experienced spinner could be one solution, with Dawson a like-for-like with Leach who has been playing County Championship cricket, and Moeen the likeliest options.
Moeen’s Test career was thought to be over when he chose not to tour Pakistan in December but, with 195 wickets (and five centuries) to his name, he might represent a tantalising option for Stokes and McCullum, not least because of his attacking approach to the game. Moeen was dropped for Leach after just one Test the last time Australia toured England, and has only been seen sporadically since, even retiring from the format in September 2021 (although he has indicated he would be open to a reversal).
After a Professional Cricketers’ Association corporate golf day on Monday, many of England’s players will head to Scotland for a week of golf and team-building while Australia compete in the World Test Championship final at the Oval. England’s entire squad, minus Wood and Tongue, will convene north of the border next weekend before travelling to Edgbaston.
