(^52) DAILY MIRROR TUESDAY 27.08.2019
DM1ST
1 Finnish; 2 Naomi Osaka; 3 b; 4 Rory
McIlroy; 5 American
football.
QUICK QUIZ
ANSWERS
- What
nationality is
Norwich striker
Teemu Pukki? 2. Who won the
women’s singles title at last year’s
US Open? 3. Which country scored
the first goal in qualification for the
2022 World Cup? a) New Zealand b)
Mongolia c) China 4. Which golfer
won the Tour Championship? - In which sport did the Music City
Miracle see the Tennessee Titans
come from behind to beat the
Buffalo Bills?
DENISE LEWIS
(47) – Heptathlon
gold winner at the
Sydney Olympics.
DECO (42) – former Porto, Barcelona,
Chelsea and Portugal playmaker.
DAVID BENTLEY (35) – former
England, Tottenham and Blackburn
midfielder.BIRTHDAYS
1908: Sir Donald Bradman was born.
The Australian master batsman
scored 28,067 runs in first-class
cricket between 1927 and 1949. In 52
Test matches, he scored 6,996 runs at
an average of 99.94.
1990: Graham Gooch scored 88 in
England’s second innings in the third
and final Test against India at the
Oval, taking his total in the six Tests
that summer to 1,058 runs.
2004: Five days after breaking down
in tears during the Olympic marathon,
Paula Radcliffe pulled up eight and a
half laps from the end of the 10,000
metres final in Athens.
2009: Holland winger Arjen Robben
joined Bayern Munich from Real
Madrid.
2010: Liverpool agreed to sell
Argentinian midfielder Javier
Mascherano to Barcelona.LIVERPOOL
‘Spice Boy’ Steve McManaman scored
to help his side avoid a new record for
their worst-ever league start.
The Reds were on course to equal
the start the endured in 1911 but a bit
of magic from Macca – and a second
goal from Karl-Heinz Riedle – saw
them defeat Leeds 2-0.
Grateful Kop boss Roy Evans
praised the star.
“I was delighted for Steve,” he said.
“His work-rate, effort and
enthusiasm was fantastic. When
Steve is on form he’s difficult to stop
and he can score a great goal.”BACK PAGE: 1997
LIVERPOOLBACK PAGE: 1997
ON THIS
DAY
AUGUST
27
SPECS
SYMBOL
ENGLAND sponsor Specsavers
has promised Jack Leach free
glasses for life for helping to keep
the Ashes alive – not bad for a
village cricketer!
That is the self-deprecating term
used by Leach himself, who looked like
Clark Kent as he cleaned his specs at
one end of the pitch while Ben Stokes
did his Superman act at the other.
He made the England side as the
team’s spinner, but Leach achieved cult
hero status with the bat first with his
92 against Ireland and now Sunday’s
vital one not out.
The Somerset man was happy to
play a supporting role in the miracle of
2019, even if he did not want to be out
there in the first place.
“It’s nice to be called a cult hero,” said
Leach. “I don’t know what it is.
“It’s probably because I look like a
village cricketer out there in my glasses,
the bald head and maybe people think,
‘That could be me!’
“All the others look pretty
professional. The support for all of us
was incredible. The
noise was insane and
I’m just enjoying playing
for England.
“People said, ‘How nice would
it be to score the winning runs’ and
I was like ‘Yeah, I’ve thought about it
and it would be nice, but I don’t want
to be in that position in the first place.’focused
on what I
needed to do.”
When Leach
walked out to
bat, 73 runs
w e r e s t i l l needed
a n d f e w could see
anything other than
an Australia
win, which would
have sealed the
Ashes. Stokesy
makes you believe
y o u can do anything,” Leach said. “I
don’t know if you believe you can do it,
you just break it down a bit at a time.
“I wanted to do my job, because he
was saying he’d face four or five balls an
over. It quickly seemed to go down and
suddenly it’s eight to win and you’re
like, ‘Oh my God’.
“Stokesy straight away is thinking
about how he will knock off the runs.
He is obviously believing it’s definitely
going to happen. It seemed quite
simple.
“I didn’t want to get in Stokesy’s
bubble when he was hitting those sixes.
But I also wanted him to just focus on
the next ball, especially when we got
close.
“Watching the World Cup final as
a fan shows anything is possible.
Ben Stokes was at the centre of that
as well. Maybe Ben Stokes has to be
at the centre of everything.
“Probably the only thing he can’t do
is solve Brexit.”I’d have rather
not have had to do
anything!”
It is hard to underestimate the part
played by Leach in staying with Stokes
when others had fallen by the wayside.
Not only did he duck the bouncers
and bravely get into line, cleaning his
glasses (below) took time out of the
game to ensure Stokes got a breather.
Leach added: “I just had to make
sure they were clean every time I was
facing up because I would really regret
it if it had been smudged and I’d got
out, then they zoom in on the glasses
and say, ‘He didn’t clean his glasses’.
“I just had to
stay calm. I
felt good,
I was
reallyI was just doing my job says Jack Leach,
the ‘village cricketer’ promised free glasses
for life after holding the Aussies at bay
BY DEAN WILSON
Cricket Correspondent
@CricketMirrorMIRACLE OF 2019 RELIVING
want to be outcult hero,” said
hat it is.
e I look like a
e in my glasses,
e people think,look pretty
ort for all of usngce would
g runs’ and
ught about it
ut I don’t want
the first place.’sudd
like, ‘
“St
abou
He is
goin
simp
“I
bubb
But I
the n
clos
“
a
Be
as
at th
“Pr
is solI just had to
stay calm. I
felt good,
I was
reallyLUCK ON HIS SIDE
England skipper Joe RootBY DEAN WILSON
ASK any Test captain to
produce a wish-list of the
type of players they would
want in their team and the
answers are usually the
same.
At the top is a world-class
all-rounder.
Next comes a brilliant
bowler. Captains of England,
Australia, New Zealand,
West Indies and South
Africa are likely to ask for a
fast bowler while captains of
India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan
and Bangladesh are more
likely to want a sensational
spinner.
And then comes the
century-making batsmen.
So when Joe Root arrives
at Old Trafford next week
ready to try to add his name
to the list of English Ashes-
winning captains he should
realise that he has hit the
jackpot.
In James Anderson and
Stuart Broad he will have
England’s two greatest fast
bowlers to open the bowling
with 1033 Test scalps
between them.
A small turn of the head
will spot Jofra Archer, a
bona fide fast bowling star
who is the quickest England
have ever had. And then by
his side will be his vice-
captain and match-winning
all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Root knows the full value
an all-rounder like Stokes or
Flintoff can bring to a team
and he missed that in the
2017-18 Ashes when
England were routed 4-0.
As Root said before the
start of this series: “To have
someone like Ben by your
side does fill me with a huge
amount of confidence.
“Ben offers with all three
departments, he bowls, he
bats and he is one of the
best fielders and he drags
people with him as a natural
leader on the field and in
the dressing room. We are
lucky to have him.”
Root has luck and the
players on his side to
become an Ashes-winning
skipper in his own right. He
has two matches to grab it.Root hits
jackpot in
Ashes bid