Headingley 2019 is another memorable victory for England on the sacred Yorkshire pitch thanks to Jack Leach and Ben Stokes. Photo: Getty Images/Gareth Copley Vogany and Tuffers Cricket Club — Latest Episode
England are giving up their home advantage in the next Ashes after the North was rejected for next venues, fears 2019 hero Jack Leach.
There will be no Ashes Test north of Nottingham in 2027: Australia will play at Trent Bridge for the first time since 2015, and the Ageas Bowl will host its first-ever Ashes Test.
In 2027 Headingley will host the women's Ashes Test and the men's Ashes will return to Leeds and Manchester in 2031, the first time Edgbaston has missed out since 2013.
England have enjoyed some of their most iconic Ashes. moments at Headingley, including another notable win that kept the latest installment of this weekend's iconic rivalry going. The fourth Test will start at Old Trafford next Wednesday.
Leach, who missed the series with injury, was at the center of England's 2019 Headingley win when he scored a goal without a loss in a win-win partnership with the last wickets (76) and broke the record goal of 359.
Leach considers it a «shame» that England won't play in any of the northern stadiums in 2027 due to the atmosphere and support England is getting there.
England always gets a lot of support from the Headingley crowd. Photo: Getty Images/Jan Kruger
«There's always a great vibe,» Leach told the Telegraph's Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast. Old Trafford has been a test since Headingley in 2019. I went out [to beat with a bat] to applause, and everyone was without shoes and drinking from their shoes. Hopefully more of the same [next week]. We like to play in the north, such venues seem suitable for us. The crowd in these places is just incredible.
“Yes, definitely [I want to play there]. You want to make the most of your home advantage, don't you? Those reasons that you definitely feel, you have. You think about going to Australia and the number of sticks I got we all got there and maybe those grounds you feel like opposition get it a little bit the same way you do when you go to those places . I think it can really make a big difference, they are talking about the crowd being the 12th person and in those places [Leeds and Manchester] it definitely is. It's a shame. I don't know what the reasons are.»
Laughing, Leach added, «We should just play all five at Headingley, right?»
Following England's loss to the Lords this month, skipper Ben Stokes praised the crowd for an unusually rowdy performance. saying «It was nice to see Lorde, a stadium that doesn't have a reputation for atmosphere and noise…today was one of the days that Lorde showed up.»
Jack Leach's famous glasses are missing: «They're somewhere in the country' 
The most famous sports glasses in England — Jack Leach takes care of his glasses during that famous hit of one of them four years ago. Photo: Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers
Will McPherson
Four years ago, after the Headingley Ash test, Jack Leach's glasses, which are so important when he bats , have become the most fashionable accessory in English cricket. Now he has no idea where they are. Or, for that matter, where is everything he wears to play cricket.
“I don’t know where my cricket gear is now and my glasses are in my cricket bag,” he laughs on the Telegraph’s Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast. “After the Ireland game, they all moved to Edgbaston, but obviously I didn’t come to Edgbaston. They are somewhere in the country, but I'm not sure where. I don't need it yet, but someday I'll need to find it.»
He doesn't need any of that just yet, because during that test in Ireland last month, of course, he suffered a devastating injury: a stress fracture in his back that kept him out of the ash and spending the rest of the summer in the county of Somerset. The road to recovery began with an England tour of India in early 2024. If all goes well, he might play cricket, for someone, somewhere in the world, before Christmas, but for now, all roads lead to India.
“It was not the right moment due to injury, but I think never,” he says. “I feel good, I'm not in too much pain, although I was sick during that game. Ever since I stopped bowling, I've gotten better. I'm in rehab and focusing on what's next.»
Leach was in many ways the heart of Ben Stokes' team, tasked with making team appearances to lift spirits when the pressure of Test cricket was at its heaviest, and was also a vital bowler. Even after missing three games in a row, he hit 60 more overs in the baseball era than anyone else. In the Stokes' first year, Leach was one of five full-time players; since then another, Vice-Captain Ollie Pope, has also succumbed to injury.
Watching what some already consider Ashes' greatest series from his couch, he picks images of Sky and the «more soothing» Test. Special Match Commentary — It was painful in some ways, but Leach stayed by his side. He joined the team on their fun golf tour a few days after he found out about his injury (he couldn't play), came to Lorde and will be in rehab at Old Trafford and the Oval.
«It's a bit of both [mixed emotions],» he said. “I enjoyed watching the guys continue what we were trying to do. They made me feel like I was part of it even though I wasn't playing.
Leach was still on the team after the injury. Photo: AP/Andrew Kornaga.
“It was nice to watch, but from a personal point of view, I was really looking forward to this series. We were all like that, coming off really good performances. It was probably the first time I really enjoyed playing against the Australians. I remember when we were in Australia [2021/22], I just didn't feel ready for it. This time I was much better prepared for the challenge and saw what I was capable of.
“It's a shame, but this is a professional sport. I have to focus on what's next. After Ireland, Stokesy said we were on our way and Ashes wasn't the end of it. It was nice to hear when my back was aching [in pain] and I sat there and thought that I probably wouldn't play in this series. I can focus on what's next, which is India.»
Leach was considered one of the players who greatly benefited from the thinking of Stokes and Brandon McCallum, which, in his opinion, freed him from instinctive negativism . and conservatism. Therefore, it is not surprising that he uses their pearls of wisdom for his recovery.
«I'm surprised at how well I'm coping with [the injury],» he says. “Of course there are bad days when I feel like I wish I were there now. There is no point in dwelling on this.
«I know Baz hates [the term] Buzzball.» But for me, the mentality has really helped me in life in general. It helped me for sure. That's why I've been such a supporter of it and I think it's such a powerful thing that people can use in every area of life.
«You have to take the rough with the smooth, don't go too high or too low with everything, what comes your way in cricket, but I think it's the same in life.”
Asked to explain how Stokes and McCallum changed the mindset of their players, Leach points to an infectious positivity.
«There's something very powerful about people saying something and then backing it up with their actions,» he says. “Then you really start believing it. The care they have shown for each and every member of this group is amazing and they are quite consistent in their team selection and now it seems to be a pretty cohesive group.
“Stokesy makes you run through a brick wall for him because you know he would have done the same. I find it odd that Ben Stokes would climb through a brick wall for Jack Leach. I don't understand. But he will. He doesn't just say that. He makes them and lives them.
Leach and Ben Stokes are closely associated with the spinner, highlighting how inspiring the captain is. Photo: AP/Fareer Khan
“Before the game, after the game we talk in a group. Don't get me wrong, I've had times over the past year where I've walked off the field and thought it was a bad day, Baz can't be sure about that, what will they say? A few minutes later I go back to the hotel with the words: “Put two gates in the morning, and everything is in order!” Marvelous. I have never experienced this before. Once upon a time I would say that this is arrogant. It's a rather English trait to be rather humble, and that's where I might see a change. In Australia last time we did not participate in any of the games at all. We should have lost 5-0 if not for the rain. We were modest, but we did not believe in ourselves.”
Leach is confident that England is far from being at its peak, and cites the captain as an example.
>“As we walk this path, we become smarter and smarter. Look at Stokes. When he goes to 400 for five, he usually hits one straight up. When he goes 100 on five, he takes his time, does what he needs to do, and then leaves at the right time. Very clever. He is the greatest example for us to look up to. What does this situation require of me? If everything goes well for us, I will continue this game, and I will not waste time going nowhere. Other times, soak it up and then walk away.”
Leach recalls playing with Stokes at Headingley and then realizing he was not just the strong alpha male he once seemed.
>
“I watched him at the 2019 World Cup final a month before,” he says. “I always thought Stokes was an instinctive player without much thought. I realized then how smart he was, what bowler he was targeting, what border. He planned that I would play one or two balls per over and be ready for two. Lots of tactics and thinking. After he thought about it, he instinctively hit the ball face to face.
“He was very calm and I don't remember us talking much. It was the most focused I have ever felt on the cricket field. I had to meet with one or two balls, so every match that I faced was an event. Whatever you do, don't go out. The only time I was distracted was when I saw him leaning over his bat without looking at my face. I thought, «Are you kidding me?»
These innings created a bond between Stokes and Leach that both believe will last a lifetime. They've only fought together once since then, and the partnership has only lasted one ball.
They may have another chance in India, but Lich needs to find his points first.
Свежие комментарии