England dealt Ashes blow as spinner Leach to miss series with injury
England’s Test team have been dealt another major bowling blow ahead of this month’s Ashes series with leading spinner Jack Leach pulling out of the famous five-Test competition against Australia.
Leach played in England’s 10-wicket victory against Ireland over the weekend but has since pulled out of the squad due to a lower back stress fracture.
The 31-year-old Somerset spinner spent some time off the field on the third and final day of England’s Test against Ireland.
He follows seamer Jofra Archer in missing the iconic series through injury and it comes after minor injury concerns for fellow bowlers James Anderson and Ollie Robinson and captain bowler Ben Stokes.
In a statement, the England and Wales Cricket Board said: “England Men’s spinner Jack Leach has been ruled out 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.”
It is not the first stress fracture for the Test side in recent years with the likes of Archer, Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Fisher all suffering from similar injuries despite being in the prime of their careers.
Leach bowled 14 overs in England’s first innings in the field and 20 in the second, taking two and four wickets respectively.
England’s dominance at Lord’s across the three days of competition meant Leach was not required to bat.
A replacement is expected soon but a number of players, including Adil Rashid – now a white-ball specialist –and Rehan Ahmed, could be in line to take on Australia – it is unlikely, however, that England will face the Baggy Greens with only pacers like they did in parts of their 4-0 humiliation Down Under in the last series.
Will Jacks and Matt Parkinson could be in the Ashes mix but they have not been staples of the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum era – Leach has played every test under the new regime.
Amid the usual circumstances the England team could call on Moeen Ali but the all-rounder has previously ruled himself out of Test cricket.