hat is the
costume
sorted for
fancy dress
day in the
fourth Ashes Test. After
what happened on
Sunday, every member of
the Barmy Army will
surely now be heading to
Old Trafford on Saturday
week wearing a pair of
oversize, black-framed
spectacles in honour of
Jack Leach.
It is one of the many
unique subtleties of Test
cricket that, two days
after the most
astonishing
demonstration of
bloody-minded batting
ever seen by Ben Stokes,
it seems somehow
legitimate to applaud the
chap at the other end, the
bloke who contributed
just one run to the
required total, the fellow
who might be considered
to have been as big a
spectator of single-Leach joins
pantheon
of sporting
heroes in
spectacles
Gutsy tail-ender
played Clark
Kent to Stokes’
Superman in
Ashes classic,
writes Jim White
staying there the
Somerset left-arm
spinner enabled Stokes to
deliver his crash, bang,
wallop magic. Just by
clinging on, limpet Leach
entered English cricket
mythology. And in the
process he achieved
something else:
membership of the most
exclusive of sporting
clubs. He joined Eddie
the Eagle, Dennis Taylor,
Billie Jean King, Clive
Lloyd, David Steele,
Edgar Davids, Arthur
Ashe, Martina
Navratilova and Jacques
Villeneuve in the roll call
of four-eyed heroes.
When Leach walked
out into the middle at
Headingley after Stuart
Broad’s dismissal there
can be few who believed
it possible that England
could win. Seventy-three
runs were still needed.
And here was the last
man standing, a bloke
blinking through his
glasses. It was almost
comically unlikely. Yet
those specs were his
secret weapon.
Seeing him come out,
the Australians must have
assumed he would not be
hanging around for long.
There on his face was
evidence of his physicalshortcomings: the bloke
needed optical assistance
to see the ball clearly.
Here was the chink of
vulnerability that was
going to guarantee the
retaining of the urn by
Australia.
But just as Steele was
underestimated when he
came out to bat against
the West Indies’ fast-bowling battery in 1976,
so Leach subverted every
assumption. As one
observer perfectly
summed it up: watching
him and Stokes together
in the middle was like
seeing Superman and
Clark Kent in the same
room.
And the good news
for Leach was, as he
polished the steam from
his glasses, he had the
best view in the house
of the fireworks erupting
22 yards away.
This is the thing aboutthe great specs-wearers
of sport: they are not in
any way diminished by
their need for visible
optical assistance.
Navratilova, King and
Ashe were serial grand
slam winners, Taylor a
world champion, Davids
played for many of
Europe’s top sides, Lloyd
captained the most
destructive cricket team
in history with a
swashbuckling swing
of his bat.
And while Eddie the
Eagle might have come
stone cold last in the 1988
Winter Olympics ski
jump, his bravery was off
the scale. He may have
been peering through
lenses so thick they
resembled the bottom of
a beer bottle, but he had
the heart of a lion.
And so it was with
Leach. Already in
possession of a Test
match 92, he was
unyielding in the way he
stuck around for Stokes.
If the England all-
rounder dominated the
stage like Hamlet, this
was Horatio-standard
support work.
And when he got his
run, which ensured the
Test was tied and the
series would stay alive for
another match at least,
the roar from the
Headingley crowd could
have been heard across
the Pennines in
Lancashire.
The fact is the man in
glasses had produced the
greatest one not out in
cricket history.
Immediately sensing the
marketing opportunity,
Specsavers announced it
would give him free bins
for life. Though doubtless
anyone of Australian
sympathy might suggest
such an offer would be
better delivered to
myopic umpire Joel
Wilson, who somehow
missed the fact that
Stokes was plumb lbw
two balls before glorious
victory was achieved.
Even Leach could see he
was out.Seeing is believing: Bespectacled Jack Leach during England’s epic run chase at Headingley
T
And here was
the last man
standing, a
bloke blinking
through
his glasses
In tomorrow’s Sport section
Richard Wigglesworth
On life as England’s
reserve scrum-half
and Canada’s assistant
World Cup coach
handed destruction as
the rest of us.
But Leach’s name
deserves to be lauded to
the heights. Just byACTION IMAGESFinal whistle
20 *** Tuesday 27 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws