Unlikely hero Jack Leach bails England out after yet another collapse against Ireland
At the start of day two of England’s one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s, Jack Leach’s efforts with the bat as nightwatchman were merely good fun; an unsubstantial and inconsequential starter ahead of the awaiting main course.
As he progressed, playing accomplished shots to get the hosts off to a steady start, his innings ticked up a category into useful runs.
After hitting three boundaries in a Boyd Rankin over all around the wicket and straight-driving Stuart Thompson on the way to scoring a maiden Test 50, his knock was clearly something more significant.
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Leach has worked hard on his batting and the day after one of England’s lowest ebbs with the bat he was showing grit, determination and plenty of skill to apply himself to the task at hand.
With the swashbuckling Jason Roy at the other end bringing his one-day international style and power to the fore in a reassuring innings of 72, all looked well at Lord’s.
Leach rode his luck, with two dropped catches behind the wicket from Gary Wilson and Mark Adair helping his cause, but considering his underdog status – earned through 19 successive single-figure first-class scores preceding his big day out – and the way he’d played, the bespectacled Somerset left-hander had earned some fortune.
When the end came, from the 162nd ball and after 92 runs scored, Leach was afforded a rousing ovation from the crowd. He’d performed well above and beyond the call of duty; now he was giving way for the proper batsmen to make hay in the record-breaking London sunshine.
Or so conventional thinking would have it. Of course with England in Test matches these days that’s rarely the case. How vital the runs from the unlikeliest of sources were to prove.
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Leach may have recorded a 30 per cent false shot ratio according to analytics app CricViz but his efforts put those of the batsmen following him to shame.
When the heroic nightwatchman left the middle England were 182-3. A mere 22.1 overs later they were 248-8 and staring at a potentially catastrophic defeat.
In that nightmarish period we witnessed a classic in the genre of poorly-judged run-out; an established batsman making a pair; another repeating his first-innings dismissal to continue a terrible stretch of form; and the England captain edging behind playing an ill-advised expansive drive on the move.
England had, like so many times beforehand, snatched a collapse from the jaws of steady progression – and arguably this was even worse than the 85 all out omnishambles of day one, coming in favourable batting conditions on a fair pitch and against an inexperienced, tiring attack.
That some lower-order hitting from England’s now frequent get-out-of-jail-free card Sam Curran and Stuart Broad may have scraped the hosts to a defendable target shouldn’t excuse the nature of the team’s batting performance.
The threat of lightning and subsequent rain saw play abandoned with England on 303-9, holding a well-balanced lead of 181.
The fact they owe half of that to the man who batted at No11 in the first innings and who before the game had a Test batting average of 9.16 should be viewed as a big red flashing warning sign, not a blessing.
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