England’s left-arm spinner Jack Leach admitted that he feared about his international career being over after being left out of the home summer games. Leach was out of action since January due to a knee injury sustained during the first Test against India in Hyderabad. But Leach, 33, was recalled into England’s Test team for their ongoing tour of Pakistan, where he’s picked 14 wickets in two games at Multan. “After a long time out with injury, I felt maybe that might be it, even though I knew this tour was the other side of the summer.”

“At that point, it was very much about me getting back to my best and enjoying my cricket, and being injury-free for a good amount of time,” said Leach to BBC Sport ahead of the series decider at Rawalpindi.

In his absence, off-spinner Shoaib Bashir has become a regular player with the England Test team.

“If you’re not able to stay fit, then other people come in and do well, and Bash certainly did that. A lot of it doesn’t need to be explained. I know what the situation was. It was just about me getting back to fitness. Then, from that, you take wickets and build confidence. That’s what I went away and did,” added Leach.

Talking about his relationship with Bashir, also a fellow Somerset player in domestic cricket, Leach remarked, “We’ve got a really good relationship. Bash has got off to an amazing start. His talent is amazing. He has got such a high ceiling and he’s on the way to that. That’s exciting for English cricket.”

“It might be different at Somerset next year. Who knows? For me, it’s quite a fluid thing. Those are things I can’t control. Somerset and England are the teams I’ve been playing for. If they want to pick me, then I’ll give everything to them. That’s all I want to focus on.”

Leach, who’s picked 140 wickets in 38 Tests, signed off by saying England are yet to get a look at the pitch in Rawalpindi. “I don’t know what to expect. I haven’t seen anything. We’ll go to training tomorrow, have a look at it. I feel quite clear about what I’m doing. That doesn’t really change depending on the wicket.”

Pakistan vs England, 2nd Test Day 2, Live Updates© AFP

England batter Joe Root adopted a unique strategy to pick wickets as England were asked to bowl after Pakistan won the toss in the second Test in Multan. After spinner Jack Leach picked up two wickets in the opening session, Pakistan settled into their innings thanks to half-centuries by Saim Ayub and Kamran Ghulam. At this point, Root thought of a rather interesting way to shine the ball, in order to provide some assistance to Leach, Shoaib Bashir and the rest of the English attack.

Root rubbed the ball on Leach’s head, making it seem as if he was trying to shine one side of the ball. Leach, who is mostly bald, had been of help in a similar manner in 2022, when Root had tried a similar tactic during England’s previous tour to Pakistan.

Watch: Joe Root shines ball on Jack Leach’s head

Shiny head Shiny ball pic.twitter.com/2yqEESpaeu

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 15, 2024

With Multan providing flat batting tracks, England have been forced to find innovative ways of getting a breakthrough. Root – who captained England in 64 Tests – showed that he clearly has not lost his tactical genius.

Fans were left in splits at the incident.

“That’s one way to rough it up,” commented one user on social media platform X.

thats one way to rough it up

— Passive (@passive_mikey) October 15, 2024

“What a great picture,” tweeted another user.

What a great picture

— Bilal Bali (@BALI_205) October 15, 2024

A third fan seemed to be concerned at the legality of such a manouevre.

“It looks like ball tampering to me – I can’t understand why England cricket would be promoting this as a good thing. Clearly Leach has stubble on the back of his head that could scratch the surface. Sunscreen that could affect the surface,” said the user.

It looks like ball tampering to me — can’t understand why @englandcricket would be promoting this as a good thing.

Clearly leach has stubble on back of head that could scratch surface.

Sunscreen that could affect surface.

— A Person (@OldWivesTails) October 15, 2024

Despite losing Abdullah Shafique and skipper Shan Masood cheaply, Saim Ayub and Kamran Ghulam stitched a 149-run partnership to help Pakistan recover. Ayub fell for 75, while Ghulam – replacing Babar Azam in the playing XI – edged towards a century at Tea on Day 1.

Michael Vaughan has labelled the current Pakistan side as the “worst” in the history.© AFP

Somerset re-ignited hopes of a maiden County Championship title with a dramatic 111-run win over defending champions and current Division One table-toppers Surrey at Taunton on Thursday. Archie Vaughan, son of former England captain Michael Vaughan, and fellow spinner Jack Leach took a combined 10 wickets in the second innings as visitors Surrey, set a target of 221, were bowled out for 109 with just minutes to spare on the final day of the match. While Archie finished with a superb match haul of 11 wickets, Leach took the final wicket of the match, dismissing Dan Worrall to spark wild celebrations among team-mates and supporters.

Somerset batter Tom Banton, who led the charge with scores of 132 and 46 in the match, made his way towards the middle, hobbling on crutches, before giving a hug to his teammate Craig Overton.

A video of Banton’s unique celebration went viral on social media.

Even on crutches, Tom Banton couldn’t resist the Somerset celebrations pic.twitter.com/aIjs8wEUwh

— Vitality County Championship (@CountyChamp) September 12, 2024

Archie, an 18-year-old off-spinner appearing in just his second Championship match, enjoyed a superb return of 5-38 in 32 overs.

That gave Archie, whose Ashes-winning captain father Michael made his reputation in cricket as a batsman with Yorkshire, a match return of 11-140 after he took 6-102 in Surrey’s first-innings 321. 

He also opened the batting, making 44 in the first innings. 

On a pitch renowned for helping slow bowlers, the other five second-innings wickets fell to England left-arm spinner Leach, who finished with an especially miserly 5-37 in 37 overs. 

The match appeared destined for a draw with Surrey 95-3, but the reigning champions lost their last seven wickets for just 14 runs in a spectacular collapse that included Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan falling to Vaughan for a duck.

Victory left southwest side Somerset, who have never won the County Championship — English cricket’s domestic first-class competition — just eight points behind First Division leaders Surrey, bidding for a hat-trick of titles, with two games left to play.

(With AFP Inputs)

With just a few minutes to go before stumps on the final day, Somerset stunned Surrey in an epic thriller in County Cricket. Needing just the last wicket to win the match, Somerset deployed ultra aggressive field around Surrey’s Daniel Worrall, with all 11 players visible in a single frame. With the ball in his hand, Jack Leach produced a brilliant off-cutter that hit the pads of Worrall, and every player of the Somerset team raised his hands in appeal. While the decision wasn’t the toughest to make, the umpire raised his finger and the entire screen shook as Somerset made history.

Surrey were 95 for, with less than 20 overs ago in the match. The momentum shifted in favour of Somerset when Ben Foakes and Dom Sibley were dismissed a collapse. Somerset, a team that has never when the County Championship, remain in pole position to prevent Surrey from producing a three-peat.

Cricket #SOMvSUR#WeAreSomerset pic.twitter.com/S7IrAEMezz

— Somerset Cricket (@SomersetCCC) September 12, 2024

Batting first, Somerset put 317 runs on the board, with Tom Banton leading the run-scoring charts with a brilliant 132 off 172 deliveries. Archie Vaughan and James Raw also produced useful cameos with the bat. Bangladesh veteran Shakib Al Hasan was the pick of the bowlers for Surrey, bagging 4 wickets while Daniel Worrall claimed three.

In response to Somerset’s first innings total, Surrey also did well in putting 321 runs on the board, thanks to half-centuries from Tom Curran, Ben Geddes, and Ryan Patel. Archie Vaughan was Somerset’s hero with the ball in the first innings, bagging 6 wickets while Jack Leach grabbed 4.

In the second innings, Somerset were bowled out for 224, with no player managing to score a half-century. Shakib was once again the pick of the bowlers for Surrey, bagging a fifer.

Dom Sibley’s 56 off 183 kept Surrey in the game while chasing a target of 221 runs but he lacked support from the other end of the pitch. Archie Vaughan and Jack Leach picked up 5 wickets each as Somerset bundled out Surrey for just 109.