Daily Mail - 12.08.2019

Daily Mail, Monday, August 12, 2019

71

Jack: I’ve nothing

to lose in my bid

to get Smith out

I

t IS one of the more

daunting Ashes intro-

ductions. All Jack Leach

has to do is step out at

Lord’s and make sure

Steve Smith’s relatively

meagre returns against left-

arm spin are maintained.

No pressure, then. You’ll be

all right, Jack.

the reality is that, on what is

likely to be a green, seaming

Lord’s pitch for Wednesday’s sec-

ond test, it is the extra pace and

bounce of Jofra Archer that gives

England a better chance of solv-

ing the Smith conundrum which

threatens their Ashes chances.

But if Leach (below) does get

the chance to reduce further the

super-human Smith’s average

against his type of bowling that

currently stands at a mere mor-

tal 37, then he will go a long way

towards earning himself a lengthy

run as England’s No 1 spinner.

Certainly that’s how Leach sees

it. ‘It feels as if I’ve got nothing to

lose and a lot to gain,’ he said.

‘there has been focus on Smith’s

supposed weakness against left-

arm spin. those stats are there

but if I’m in the XI, I just want to

do my thing and see what

happens.’

Of Smith’s previ-

ous 40 dismissals

in tests before

the Ashes, 26

came against

spin, 16 of them

to left-arm

spinners. He has

certainly had far

less trouble against

the ball moving in to

him. Step forward a man

who, not that long ago, was some

way down England’s spinning

pecking order. When Moeen Ali

last had a poor run and Leach

was handed his chance, he broke

a thumb and missed out to Dom

Bess at the start of last year.

then national selector Ed Smith

made it his mission to persuade

Adil Rashid to take up red-ball

cricket again, reducing Leach’s

opportunities until the winter tour

of Sri Lanka when he joined Moeen

and Rashid in playing a huge part

in an historic series win.

Leach, 28, has shown his

character in overcoming the kind

of setbacks that would have ended

the ambitions of a lesser man. In

2015 he fainted during a late night

trip to the bathroom and frac-

tured his skull.

then, his breakthrough season

at taunton in 2016 was accom-

panied by doubts from within

his own camp from captain Chris

Rogers as to whether he was

‘emotionally ready’ for test

cricket, and Leach then suffered

the potentially crip-

pling blow of

his action

being found

to be illegal.

‘With tough experiences

come stronger character. I would

say it is something that made

me a better bowler,’ he said after

successfully remodelling his

action.Leach suffered concus-

sion last season when struck on

the head by Surrey’s Morne

Morkel, making his 92 in the test

victory over Ireland all the more

satisfying.

Most seriously, he has suffered

from Crohn’s disease since he

was 14; he had his first flare up

of his professional career last

summer, but insists it did not

affect his bowling.

All of which makes this popu-

lar character’s Ashes debut a

cause for celebration.

‘Yes there’s Steve Smith but

there are 10 other batters I’d like

to get out,’ Leach said.

And if the most popular

bespectacled England cricketer

since David Steele finds the

answer to Smith,

then he will have

carved his own

name into Eng-

land’s

Ashes

story.

THE ASHES

PAUL

NEWMAN

Cricket

Correspondent

IS HE VULNERABLE TO LEFTIES?

tRAINER Ken Condon

immediately nominated the

Breeder’s Cup Mile as a major

autumn target for Romanised

following yesterday’s success in the

Group One Prix Jacques Le Marois

at Deauville, finishing ahead of

Shaman and Line Of Duty in third.

Condon said: ‘I’ll discuss plans with

his owner, but the Breeders’ Cup

Mile is very much on the agenda.’

WORLD OF SPORT

WORLD snooker champion
Judd trump put in a stellar
performance to beat Shaun
Murphy 10-3 in the International
Championship final in China.
trump knocked in a 104 break on
the way to a 5-0 lead before
Murphy took three of the last four
frames of the afternoon session to
trail 6-3. the new world No 1 then
took the opening four frames of the
evening session to secure victory.

Under fire:

Jonny

Bairstow

has a point

to prove

GETTY IMAGES

7

JONNY BAIRSTOW has

recorded seven ducks

in Tests since the start of

last year. Only Stuart

Broad (with eight) has

been dismissed for no

runs more often

for any nation.

STEVE SMITH (right) is proving

tricky for England to get out in this

Ashes series, but perhaps the

arrival of left-arm spinner Jack

Leach offers some hope as his

average against that style of

bowling is markedly worse...

Average against pace bowling 53.25

Average against spin bowling 45.04

Average against right-arm spin 52.21

Average against left-arm spin 37.19

GB kicked out in relay fiasco

ATHLETICS

By RIATH AL-SAMARRAI

A SHAMBOLIC

administration error

caused Britain to be

disqualified from the

4x400m relay final at the

European Team

Championships last night

after they inadvertently

named a shot putter to

run the first leg.

It had been planned that

Rabah Yousif, a 2014

European relay gold

medallist, would lead off

Ethan Brown, Lee

Thompson and Martyn

Rooney in Poland.

But somehow British

team officials contrived

to instead enter Youcef

Zatat, a shot putter who

was a squad reserve and

not in the country. The

team hierarchy were last

night investigating how

the gaffe happened.

Performance director

Neil Black said: ‘It is

gutting for the athletes

involved. There was an

error with the declaration

process and we are

exploring exactly what

happened. We’ll be

reviewing with those

involved in detail over

the next day or so. The

athletes were informed

and took it on the chin.

‘It is the worst way to

finish the event and we

apologise to those who

were looking forward

to seeing the GB men’s

4x400m team doing

battle.’

Britain finished the

championships in fifth

place after the blunder,

having started the third

and final day of the event

in fourth. Poland took the

title on home soil.

TEAM GB’s sprinter Rabah Yousif

and shot putter Youcef Zatat, who

was not in the country!

SPOT THE

SPRINTER