England will be without Jack Leach in the upcoming Ashes series against Australia, the England Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed late on Sunday (June 4). He has suffered a stress fracture in his back, ruling him out of the all-important Ashes, slated to start on June 16.
"England Men's spinner Jack Leach has been ruled of the LV= Insurance Men’s Ashes series with a low back (lumbar) stress fracture."
"The 31-year-old Somerset slow-left-armer developed low back symptoms during England’s LV= Insurance Test victory over Ireland on Saturday. A scan on Sunday in London has revealed a stress fracture, which will keep him out of the forthcoming Ashes Test series, which gets underway at Edgbaston on Friday 16 June. England will announce a replacement for the Ashes series in due course," said the full statement.
Leach, who has played 35 Tests for his country, is best known for taking what has been called the 'greatest single of the century' the last time Australia visited England for the Ashes. In the fourth Test of that series which England were losing 2-1, Leach, who was the last man, joined Ben Stokes at the crease with 73 runs still needed for the victory while chasing 359.
In that game, Leach scored just one run off 17 balls in the third Test of the series. But he was part of a match-winning 73-run partnership with Ben Stokes, whose unbeaten 135 in 219 balls turned the game on its head. Leach's one run came off Pat Cummins' bowling and tied the match for Ben Stokes to finish off in the last ball of the match.
Leach has taken an impressive 124 runs in his 35 matches and has been England's frontline spinner in Test cricket since making his debut in 2018. However, in the absence of the 31-year-old spinner from Somerset, England might find themselves short of options in the spin department. It will be interesting to see who they end up replacing Leach with, with Dom Bess the closest possible option. '
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