THE CRICKETER'S MOMENTS OF 2019 - OWEN RILEY: Last summer English sport fell in love with Gareth Southgate's waistcoat, this time it was the turn of Leach's specs
It’s around dusk in Leeds, there’s an orange glow surrounding Headingley, music is blaring from a speaker on the outfield and Jack Leach is wiping his glasses one last time. He takes guard once more, this time against an imaginary Pat Cummins. “Small trigger,” he quips as he turns a phantom ball, banged into the ribs, past short leg and off he scampers. Job done.
"Stokesy, finish it off mate…"
The Somerset spinner - no longer padded up, but in shorts and socks - is treating an audience to a recreation of his single, vital run in England’s second innings at Headingley. A run that put Ben Stokes on strike and the rest is history.
In modern sport it can be easy to feel a disconnect with such distant and lofty careers. Professionals at the highest level are idolised and often hidden away bar a few controlled press conferences. In many sports they become nothing more stats-based packages of adrenaline, muscle and talent reduced to sporting machines.
This sort of footage serves as a reminder that these are, despite fame and fortune, still just a group of people enjoying their sport, embracing competition and mucking around in the post-match gloom with a few beers.
It was one of the most unrelateable of sporting feats followed up with the entirely relatable post-match ritual of larking around on the outfield with your mates and some tins.
Love this.
— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) August 27, 2019
Jack Leach recreating *that* single 👏#Ashespic.twitter.com/T53EarJazM
Leach is a man who, perhaps, has represented that more than most this summer. A few weeks prior to his Headingley heroics, he turned out for his club side, Taunton Deane, against North Perrott in the West of England League.
"I've been at Taunton Deane since I was eight years old. I needed a game of cricket and it was nice to turn out for them,” he told BBC Sport.
"It reminded me of where I have come from. At the root of it, I am a Taunton Deane player who has played for England. It's amazing to remember why you play the game and to do it with a smile on your face."
"It reminds you that it's still the same game. 22 yards, a red ball. It puts things in perspective.
"I feel like I'm experiencing the whole spectrum, from Lord's to club cricket. The reason I play is because I enjoy the game and wherever that is you have to make the most of it."
When we spoke to him in November, Leach told us of how when questioned on his highest score for England, he had forgotten he had hit 92 at Lord’s in a Test match.
Setting aside the mild humour surrounding the constant cleaning of the glasses, forgetting the lone run, ignoring the unlikely-hero factor; it’s easy to forget that Leach contributed to England's highest-ever successful fourth-innings run chase and the second-highest tenth-wicket stand to win a Test in the history of the game. It was a special, special effort in a hopeless situation.
Leach is congratulated by Jos Buttler
Sometimes, though, in the aftermath of such moments come even greater happenings. Think Freddie stumbling towards the open-top bus in 2005…
Most reading this will be able to look back on a single partnership that they recount when recalling their careers, whether it was a match-winning triumph, a gritty battle for a draw, or an absolute hash of a scene that ultimately ended in defeat. Whatever the result, cricket can be a lonely, individual place as far as a team sport goes. Combining with a team-mate to forge something out of nowhere can be one of the greatest joys on a cricket pitch.
Of course us mere mortals cannot replicate the level of skill on the great stage, but certainly we can relate to the act of replaying your efforts after the fact. We’ve all been there after a match; as each drink goes down, every stroke becomes slightly more authoritative, each edge past gully becomes a well-timed glance, the ugly hoik towards cow becomes an elegant clip over the infield.
By Monday morning, while shadow batting in front of Colin from accounts, as far as your colleagues are concerned, your slapdash 18 not out against Swubford 3rds was on par with Lara at St John’s.
After a summer which has seen so many astounding moments on the field, to pick a moment off it may seem an odd decision, but it is one that has stuck with me. Last summer English sport fell in love with Gareth Southgate’s waistcoat, this time it was the turn of Leach’s specs.
Coming at it from a social media perspective, just look at the numbers the video has done. It clearly it struck a chord with the viewing public and so it should have. It is funny, it is endearing and ultimately, human. I imagine every one of us can see something of ourselves in that video. Forget the moment, forget the stage, forget the level. That’s what Jack Leach does. It’s just cricket.
OTHER MOMENTS OF 2019
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