Jack Leach calls for more spin-friendly wickets in England
Jack Leach has called for more spin-friendly pitches in England's county cricket. The left-arm off-spinner believes the change could go a long way in producing top-class tweakers for the national team.
Green tops are ubiquitous in England's domestic cricket system. Such pitches allow seamers to dominate proceedings and diminish the role of spinners in county tournaments. As a result, although the country have several world-class pacers at their disposal, skilled spinners come few and far between.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Jack Leach said:
"My thoughts are that the wickets in county cricket in general need to be good surfaces to start with. Then, if they can break up and bring spin into the game later on, I think that's a good thing for producing spinners. They can bowl in the first innings on good wickets. And then, in the second innings when things are starting to happen, they [learn to deal with] the pressure of being the guy who needs to try and bowl the opposition out. That's the ideal, I think."
Jack Leach further added in this regard:
"If the spinner is playing in a four-man attack with three seamers and a spinner, then I think the role of the spinner becomes more important. But if there's four or five seamers [in the side], or a couple of batters that also bowl seam, then I think your overs [as a spinner] can really go down; especially on some of the county wickets I've played on in the last couple of years."
Jack Leach has been in fine form in the ongoing India-England Test series. With 16 scalps to his name, he is the visitors' leading wicket-taker.
Jeetan Patel echoes Jack Leach's comments
England's newly-appointed spin-bowling coach, Jeetan Patel, also echoed Jack Leach's sentiments in a recent press conference.
The former New Zealand off-spinner, who took 65 wickets in 24 Tests, said:
'Ultimately, we want to be playing on the best wickets possible, whether that's one that does a little bit on day one, flattens out days two and three, and then spins on day four - that's the ultimate. That would be ideal and if you spoke to any player or coach in this group here, that's what they would ask for because that is very close to Test cricket."
The third India-England Test in Ahmedabad ended within two days, with the spinners taking 28 of the 30 wickets to fall in the match. The fourth and final Test of the series will start on Thursday at the same venue. It remains to be seen if the spinners will once again dominate proceedings in the series decider.