Jack Leach

Jack Leach praised captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum for giving the confidence boost he needed to drive Englands victory push on another ...

"This team has been known as a team of fighters. You never know, tomorrow is a new day." I've got two match balls to keep, one for each innings. At the moment, no. It feels like you're always pushing for that win." "I am really enjoying working with Stokesy. I say 'what about putting mid-on back?' and he just says no.

Jack Leach praised captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum for giving the confidence boost he needed to drive England's victory push on another ...

We’ve got to come out first thing and put a couple of wickets on the score. I’ll give them to my dad, he’s got a collection of all my five-for balls.” We just need to get the win and then it will be very special,” he said. “This team has been known as a team of fighters. At the moment, no. “I am really enjoying working with Stokesy. I say ‘what about putting mid-on back?’ and he just says no.

NASSER HUSSAIN: Jack Leach has delivered in spectacular fashion under pressure - only the second England spinner to take 10 wickets in a Test at Headingley ...

With a Pakistan tour on the horizon, Stokes might also have decided to get more overs under Leach’s belt. At Trent Bridge, people were saying that New Zealand’s off-spinner Michael Bracewell was getting more drop and drift than Leach. But in this game, so far at least, Bracewell has not hit a consistent length like Leach has. And make no mistake: being a spin bowler in England can be a tough gig. You don’t see many spinners bowling that early in Test matches up here, but the confidence that must have instilled in him has proved crucial. We all knew that Leach could be a handful when the ball’s turning, because he’s got that accuracy. And deliver he has, in spectacular fashion — only the second England spinner to take 10 wickets in a Test at Headingley since Derek Underwood, 50 years ago.

England are on track to seal a 3-0 series sweep over world Test champions New Zealand after telling contributions from Jack Leach and Ollie Pope on day four ...

A flighted ball outside off, on a good length and Crawley (25) went straight for the booming drive and when the ball dipped late, he could only chip it up to the New Zealand skipper at extra cover. That Root was forced to play second fiddle for long spells in the stand only highlighted the quality of the knock from England's No 3. Alex Lees was not so fortunate as Crawley middled a drive to the left of Kane Williamson at mid-off, probably expecting four for it. A streaky shot to bring up an otherwise very classy seventh half-century. The right-hander chased a wide one and sent a thick edge high towards second slip. Potts (3-66) was undeterred, though, and four balls later he hammered the pad again.

England are closing on a 3-0 series whitewash over New Zealand, with Ben Stokes' side needing 113 runs to win the final Test at Headingley with eight ...

In the first test at Lord's, England secured a win in just 13.5 overs, meaning supporters got a full refund. It is the second time in just six months that Billings has been drafted into the England side, having made his Test debut in the final Ashes Test after injuries to both Bairstow and Jos Buttler. Only one other partnership has faced more balls in a Test series when batting together on six occasions or less this century and that was Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper for the West Indies against India in 2002, when they faced 1,511. With England needing 113 runs to win with eight wickets in hand, Yorkshire have announced that fans can attend day five for free. And after testing positive, Billings was drafted in as a Covid replacement, making a late journey up to Headingley to win his second Test cap. From there, Pope and Root looked dominant as they put on an unbeaten 132-run partnership to leave England needing 113 runs to win with eight wickets still in hand.

England spinner Jack Leach is toasting a maiden 10-wicket match haul in Test cricket - and is clearly loving life under new skipper Ben Stokes.

"Jack was under a bit of pressure and to deliver like he has done is brilliant. Stokesy's confidence in his decisions but also us as players - I have never experienced anything like it and it's very special to be a part of. "He has proved me wrong and probably a lot of other people wrong. "I know that he has been a work in progress. He has here." Mark Butcher on Jack Leach: "He has proved me wrong and probably a lot of other people wrong.

Jack Leach's second five-wicket haul of the match left England chasing 296 to win the third LV= Insurance Test at Headingley and complete a 3-0 series sweep ...

Billings had been drafted in to replace fellow gloveman Ben Foakes, who tested positive for Covid-19 and is now a major doubt for the India Test at Edgbaston next week. For Leach, the trip to Leeds has already been a triumph. He mopped up the tail with conviction, removing the last four batters after Matthew Potts had kicked the door ajar.

Having come to Headingley without a Test five-for in England, Jack Leach will leave it with two, crediting the team's new head coach, Brendon McCullum, ...

“Especially in this innings I felt like I was bowling more attacking,” Leach said. I had built up to that moment and was really excited to be playing and being part of this new setup, and then not being able to play was hard. “I don’t know if I thought it was possible, probably not.

Jack Leach credited a more attacking “new mindset” while bowling under the leadership of Ben Stokes with his “special” maiden Test ten-wicket haul.

“There’s just a great atmosphere in the dressing room, and this kind of positive way of doing things,” he said. “In the past I might have felt I need a bit of protection to bowl attacking and that worked really nicely. “I think especially in this innings I felt like I was bowling more attacking,” he said.

Under Ben Stokes, the shift in the use of Leach goes beyond just picking him at home, but empowering him to be a match-winner.

Now, this storied ground could soon be the scene of bowling England to a home Test victory. On the fourth day, mid on and off were brought up to encourage Michael Bracewell to hit over the top; he duly launched a six over long on. He is just the fifth England spinner in the past 45 years, after Phil Tufnell, Monty Panesar, Graeme Swann and Moeen Ali, to take 10 wickets in a home Test. If the gambit didn’t quite work, it attested to Stokes’s endorsement of Leach as a bowler who could help win England Test matches in all climes. Yet no England cricketer - not even Jonny Bairstow, who had already hit two centuries in 2022 before the new regime arrived - has been more transformed than Leach so far this summer. In the caricature of England under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, Jack Leach is not an obvious fit.