England have seen their bowling stocks in India suffer a significant setback after Jack Leach, their only seasoned frontline spinner coming into the tour, was ruled out of the remainder of the series with a knee injury.
Leach, 32, missed last summer’s Ashes series following the detection of a lower back stress fracture and was making his comeback during the first Test in Hyderabad last month when a tumble on the outfield during the first evening jarred his left knee.
Diagnosed as a haematoma – swelling which is believed to have possibly been furthered by the medication he takes to manage Crohn’s disease – Leach battled through the pain, sending down 36 overs in short spells and picking up two wickets in the 28-run victory.
Having missed the second Test in Visakhapatnam – a 106-run defeat by India that saw the series levelled at 1-1 – Leach was considered unlikely to feature in the third Test that gets under way in Rajkot this Thursday. However, the issue has not responded to treatment during the team’s mid-tour break in Abu Dhabi and he will now return to the UK.
While England had a Lions squad shadowing them during the first part of the tour, no spinner made a significant case for a promotion. Instead, England have opted against a replacement, leaving Tom Hartley, 24, Shoaib Bashir, 20, and Rehan Ahmed, 19, as their three frontline options along with the part-time spin of Joe Root and Dan Lawrence.
It puts paid to the notion of fielding an all-spin attack in India – something Brendon McCullum, the head coach, said he would have no qualms about – but an extra seamer may yet join Jimmy Anderson in the XI this week, depending on the surface. If so, the decision would be between the pace of Mark Wood or Ollie Robinson’s fast-medium.
Either way, it represents another cruel blow for Leach after rising to become the first-choice spinner under the captaincy of Ben Stokes with 47 wickets. Only Anderson (55) and the now retired Stuart Broad (67) have claimed more during the so-called Bazball era, while Leach also has become a central voice in the dressing room.
Hartley, Bashir and Ahmed have seemingly thrived under enterprising leadership of Stokes, combining for 26 wickets so far and helping to bowl India out in all four innings thus far. Hartley in particular has looked well suited to the surfaces, the Lancashire left-armer returning match-winning figures of seven for 62 on the fourth day in Hyderabad.
Nevertheless, losing Leach – 126 wickets from his 36 Tests to date – represents a significant drop-off in experience, with the remaining three frontliners boasting just six caps between them. Faced with an opposition side that has not lost a series at home in the past 11 years, the toughest challenge of the Stokes-McCullum era has become tougher still.
Leach is the second loss for England, with Harry Brook having left the team’s pre-series camp in Abu Dhabi for family reasons and not expected to return. India are without Virat Kohli (personal reasons) and Mohammed Shami (ankle) for the entire series, while Ravindra Jadeja (hamstring) and KL Rahul (quad) face late fitness tests this week.
