Ashes 2019 | I would’ve really regretted if a smudge on my glasses cost my wicket, says Jack Leach
Ashes hero Jack Leach says that he kept cleaning his glasses between deliveries because he did not want to regret losing his gift to a smudge on them. England’s No.11 Leach strung a 76-run last-wicket partnership with Ben Stokes to take England to a famous win at Headingley on Sunday.
England were 286/9, chasing 359 when last man Leach walked out to bat at Headingley on Sunday. Less than a month ago, he’d made 92 as the night-watchman in a Test against Ireland at Lord’s, but this was a whole other level of pressure. Although Stokes farmed the strike superbly, Leach braved 17 balls for an invaluable one not out.
Other than for a run-out scare two runs from victory, the left-hander looked decent at the crease. He tied the scores before Stokes struck the winning boundary off fast bowler Pat Cummins and England levelled the five-match series at 1-1.
“It’s nice to have that, it’s probably because I look like a village cricketer out there, in my glasses and with the bald head. Maybe people think ‘that could be me’ because all the others look pretty professional,” Leach told AFP.
“I just had to make sure they were clean every time I was facing up. I would really regret it if they had been smudged and I’d got out, then the cameras zoom in on the glasses and they say ‘he didn’t clean his glasses’. I just had to stay calm and do the job at hand,” he continued.
Although it was all-rounder Ben Stokes, with an astounding unbeaten 135, who earned the headlines, no one denies the role played by the 28-year-old. Just as Ian Botham’s 149 not out in England’s celebrated 1981 Test win over Australia at Headingley needed the support of Graham Dilley, and Kevin Pietersen’s Ashes-clinching 158 at the Oval in 2005 would not have been possible without Ashley Giles at the other end, so too did Stokes need Leach to stay with him to the end.
But rightly so, even Leach was all praise for Stokes, who has starred in two memorable triumphs in the space of six weeks – the World Cup final at Lord’s and the Ashes heroics at Headingley.
“I was watching the World Cup final as a fan and that showed that anything is possible. Ben Stokes was at the centre of that as well. Maybe Ben Stokes has to be at the centre of all things that are possible. He was just unbelievable,” Leach said.
Just like he watched the World Cup final on television, he would’ve had to do the same for the Ashes series as well had it not been for Adil Rashid’s injury, and Moeen Ali’s woeful performance in the first Test.
“I probably thought I’d be watching the Ashes at home. But I wanted to be ready to play and not presume anything. Now my opportunity has come about so I’m trying to make the most of it,” Leach added.
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