Mike Atherton: Bare spin cupboard may force Ben Stokes to shake up England attack
England’s main concerns heading into the Ashes have been around the fitness of Ben Stokes and his fast bowlers. An unexpected spin-bowling setback causes headaches of its own, explains MIKE ATHERTON.
Events, dear boy, events - as for Harold Macmillan once upon a time, so for England’s selectors, knocked off course yesterday (Sunday) by the unexpected. All the focus in the build-up to the Ashes has been on the fitness of England’s fast bowlers and captain, and on the eve of the series, it is the spinner, Jack Leach, who has gone down injured. In a cruel blow to the 31-year-old, who has already suffered his share of illness and injury, a stress fracture of the spine has ruled him out of the Ashes.
Leach bowled 20 overs in total in Ireland’s second innings, leaving the field on Saturday after three overs, with Joe Root filling in, and taking some punishment when he returned. He looked washed out in the dressing room and had clearly felt pain in his back. He was sent for a scan yesterday (Sunday) morning as a precautionary measure, and the results revealed a fracture. Lumbar fractures are not as regular an occurrence for slow bowlers as their quicker counterparts, but they are not uncommon.
How big a blow is Leach’s absence? The more so because of how important he has become to Ben Stokes’s project - Leach is an ever-present in the team under Stokes and has flourished under his captaincy - and the paucity of alternatives rather than any conviction about the chances of success in the Ashes. Leach has never taken a five-wicket haul against Australia, although he returned very respectable figures in the 2019 series at home.
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Last time down under, though, Australia’s batsmen did a demolition job on him in Brisbane, undermining his confidence and his six wickets in the series cost more than 50 runs each. The contest between a revitalised Leach under Stokes’s captaincy and Australia’s left-handers in particular - David Warner, Usman Khawaja and Travis Head - had been eagerly anticipated. England, now, will have to turn elsewhere.
They have said that they will announce a replacement in due course, but the decision is not straightforward because of the paucity of spin in the English game. For years now, with the County Championship pushed to the margins of the season, counties have had no incentive to produce or play spinners and the county game has never been so threadbare for quality spin.
What are England’s options? The second and third spinners in Pakistan this winter were Rehan Ahmed, the teenage leg spinner, and Will Jacks, the off-spinning all-rounder. Both had fine starts to their Test careers, with Jacks taking six wickets in Rawalpindi and Ahmed seven in Karachi. In six championship matches this summer, Ahmed has taken six wickets at 54 apiece while Jacks made a belated appearance in the championship and has taken two wickets at 20 in a dozen overs. Both bat aggressively, with Jacks the more accomplished player.
The Lions went to Sri Lanka this winter and among their number were two left-armers, Tom Hartley, of Lancashire, and Liam Patterson-White, of Nottinghamshire, as well as Jack Carson, the off-spinner from Sussex. Carson took nine wickets at 34 and Patterson-White seven at 58. Hartley played in the white-ball matches only. All are a way off being ready.
Dom Bess, who played on England’s tour to India and Sri Lanka in 2021, has slipped out of the picture, as has Matt Parkinson, who debuted last summer as a concussion substitute for Leach. Adil Rashid has not officially retired from Test cricket, but is injured in any case. Moeen Ali retired from Test cricket and closed the door on a return in October after conversations with Brendon McCullum. Liam Dawson, the Hampshire left-armer, is dependable and experienced and should not be discounted.
What will England do? My suspicion is that they may call both Ahmed and Jacks into the squad, to gauge where they are at, but it would be no surprise if they rejigged the balance of their team for the Edgbaston Test. Stokes’s knee remains a concern and there is no guarantee that he will be able to fulfil his all-rounder function. Leach’s injury could encourage them to play the extra seamer to cover for Stokes, leaving Root to bowl spin. Will the call go out for “fast, true” pitches still? Who knows.
For Leach, though, it is another hurdle to overcome. He has already planted his name in Ashes folklore after his stand with Stokes at Headingley in 2019, when his single helped to keep the series alive. He had dreamt of topping that by winning the Ashes and contributing with the ball. Now, sadly, he will not have that opportunity.
Originally published as Mike Atherton: Bare spin cupboard may force Ben Stokes to shake up England attack
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