England has suffered a setback ahead of the Ashes, with their first-choice spinner Jack Leach being ruled out of the series due to a stress fracture. The 31-year-old started experiencing symptoms after England beat Ireland in the lone Test match ending on Saturday (June 4). Leach took four wickets as England thumped Pakistan by ten wickets. Leach’s scan on Sunday after the win showed the stress fracture.
According to Cricket Live Score, Leach made his Test debut in 2018 and has since played in 35 of them. He has also appeared in the last two Ashes series, including the memorable Test match in 2019 at Leeds, where he and the current captain Ben Stokes shared a thrilling last-wicket partnership.
This is a major setback for the home team before the prestigious series, which gets underway on June 16 in Edgbaston, given that Leach is frequently used as the lone spinner in the XI. The ECB declared that a left-arm spinner replacement will be made in “due course.”
English