Latest news with #JackLeach
The Independent
30 minutes ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Jack Leach bowls Somerset to victory over Durham inside two days
Jack Leach claimed six for 63 as Somerset wrapped up a five-wicket win over Durham inside two days of their Rothesay County Championship Division One clash at Taunton. The visitors, who resumed on five for two in their second innings, were bowled out for 190, with off-spinner Archie Vaughan assisting Leach with four for 85. Somerset required 86 for victory and reached the target in 19.2 overs, despite four for 39 from Durham's Callum Parkinson. Lyndon James hit an unbeaten 203 for second-placed Nottinghamshire against Hampshire. James' knock off 236 balls included 20 fours and eight sixes as the away side, who resumed on 241 for five, declared on 578 for eight at Southampton. Hampshire trail by 498 runs after closing on 80 without loss. Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow hit 72 off 90 balls but only 24.1 overs were possible on day two against leaders Surrey due to wet weather at Scarborough. The hosts, who were 282 for four overnight, are handily placed on 376 for five. But, with almost 82 overs already lost to rain, chances of a win for either side are diminishing rapidly. Centuries from Jordan Cox and Matt Critchley strengthened Essex's position against Sussex at Hove. Cox made 132 and Critchley 123 as the away team reached 475 for nine – a first-innings lead of 271 – before bad light and rain took 28 overs off the day's allocation. Ethan Brookes' career-best 140 helped Worcestershire post 333 before six for 42 from Khurram Shahzad and three wickets from Adam Finch restricted Warwickshire to 184 in reply. Bottom-of-the-table Worcestershire are 31 without loss in the second innings at Edgbaston, leading by 180 runs. In Division Two, Rehan Ahmed took six wickets to add to his opening-day century as leaders Leicestershire dismissed second-placed Derbyshire for 189 to establish a commanding first-innings lead of 209. Lewis Hill increased his overnight tally from 132 to 151 and Peter Handscomb moved on to 101 but the visitors, who resumed on 357 for three, made only 41 more as Derbyshire's Luis Reece finished with six for 56. Ahmed, who registered 115 with the bat on Tuesday, then emulated Reece's exploits with a career-best six for 51, including removing Derbyshire top scorers Caleb Jewell (54) and Harry Came (56), to keep his side in control. Middlesex skipper Leus du Plooy joined team-mates Max Holden and Kane Williamson in making a century before declaring on 625 for eight at home to Northamptonshire. The visitors reached 126 for four at stumps – trailing by 499 – after Holden and Williamson increased their respective overnight scores from 137 to 151 and 88 to 114 and Du Plooy plundered 105. At Cheltenham, Chris Green and Tom Hartley starred with the bat as Lancashire assumed the upper hand against Gloucestershire. Green posted 160 from 199 balls and Hartley hit 130 off 153 deliveries in a formidable first-innings total of 557 before unbeaten pair Ben Charlesworth (104) and Joe Phillips (60) helped the hosts to 179 for one in response after captain Cameron Bancroft was trapped lbw by Sir James Anderson. Ben Kellaway and Colin Ingram combined to give Glamorgan the ascendancy against Kent at Cardiff. Resuming together at the crease, Kellaway ended on 90 and Ingram hit 87 in a first-innings total of 327 before Kent replied with 106 for one in their second innings, trailing by 66.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Liam Dawson conjures one great moment on his big return to Test cricket
Liam Dawson stood at his mark, ball cradled in his hands, forearms level to the ground, elbows splayed, sunglasses – completely unnecessarily – in place. There was nothing bright about the situation on this grey Mancunian afternoon except the 35-year-old's immediate future. Eight years after his last opportunity, Test cricketer once more. Many players give umpires items of clothing to look after while they bowl; Dawson's habit was to hand Ahsan Raza something to take care of while he didn't. Those sunglasses were required only when he had the ball in his hands (and eventually, late into the last session, it became so dark he let Raza keep them). Batters seeking some kind of clue as to his thinking were certainly not going to learn anything from his eyes, not if he could help it. On a day when one recent England spinner, Jack Leach, took the last five wickets of a six-fer in Somerset's win against Durham, another, Tom Hartley, almost doubled his career-best first-class score with 130 for Lancashire against Gloucestershire, and a third, Rehan Ahmed, trumped them both by following a century with six wickets for Leicestershire at Derby, the current pick had to make do with more high-profile but less eye-catching results. There was very little turn as Dawson made his big return, but still he eked out one great moment. Before the game his new teammates had repeatedly mentioned being struck by one particular aspect of Dawson's character. 'He's willing to always fight for the team, he's very competitive,' Harry Brook said on Monday. 'I know the cricketer he is, but I think what does go under the radar is his competitiveness,' Ben Stokes said on Tuesday. And it was there to be seen after the first ball of his second over found Yashasvi Jaiswal's edge and Brook's hands. Not in how he sprinted to his right, yelling and punching the air before exchanging high fives and 10s with his colleagues (he has a habit, after delivering the ball, of wheeling away with his arms outstretched, albeit briefly and quietly, even when nothing interesting has resulted at all). But in the swiftness with which he broke from the celebratory huddle, thoughts already on the next challenge. By the time anyone else realised that the man of the moment was no longer among them Dawson had paced out his mark and was preparing to bowl round the wicket for the first time, to the arriving right-hander Shubman Gill. There is a pleasing air of certainty about Dawson, a player experienced enough to know precisely what he is doing and where all of his teammates should be positioned to benefit from it. On this day it was a quality Gill could only admire enviously. Half an hour before play began the India captain was asked, after losing the toss for the fourth time this series, what he would have done had the coin fallen in his favour. He replied that it was just as well he lost, because: 'I was actually confused'. And he probably said something very similar about his dismissal a few hours later, after he left a Ben Stokes delivery that, had his pad not got in the way, would have clattered into middle and off. Gill had spoken before this game of his belief that fortune has not favoured his side in this series. 'Hopefully,' he sniffed, 'in the next two matches the luck is going to be with us.' Maybe in the circumstances the result of the toss, unfortunate as it initially appeared, was the kind of break he was seeking. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion Particularly given the decision Stokes made after winning it. As captain Stokes has already been responsible for 40% of all instances of England winning the toss and choosing to field in Tests at Old Trafford, something he has done both times the coin has fallen in his favour here (and all other English captains in history three times out of 38). Just another way in which he cocks a snook at tradition, though India will not be reading too much into the oft-quoted statistic about bowling first here – that no side in Test history has ever chosen to do so and won – given it would almost certainly have fallen had rain not when Australia visited in 2023. But India's luck, such as it was, was not to hold, on a day that saw freak damage both to one of Jaiswal's bats and, much more meaningfully, to Rishabh Pant's right foot. The main difference between the incidents was that with India's vice-captain, unlike their opener, nobody could run out from the dressing room with four new ones to choose from, the similarity that both were caused by deliveries from Chris Woakes. The 36-year-old is not normally known as a destroyer either of men or ligneous hardware, but though he is one of the least heavy metal cricketers around this was one of the more appropriate days for a beloved son of Birmingham to rip a bat in two.
BBC News
4 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Leach helps Somerset to rapid victory over Durham
Rothesay County Championship Division One, Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton (day two)Durham 145 & 190: Gay 42; Leach 6-63, Vaughan 4-85Somerset 250 & 89-5: Banton 33*, Lammonby 22; Parkinson 4-39Somerset (20 pts) beat Durham (3pts) by five wicketsMatch scorecard Jack Leach returned figures of 6-63 as Somerset wrapped up a five-wicket County Championship Division One win over Durham inside two days at the Cooper Associates Ground, an overnight 5-2 in their second innings, trailing by 100 runs, the visitors were bowled out for 190 - left-arm spinner Leach claiming his second six-wicket haul in successive Championship games, and off-spinner Archie Vaughan taking 4-85. Emilio Gay top-scored with 42, while Ben Raine contributed left Somerset needing 86 to win, a target they achieved in 19.2 overs, not without alarm, at just before 4pm. Tom Banton ended unbeaten on 33 and Callum Parkinson took 4-39. Despite the turning pitch, Somerset elected to start the day with seam at both ends, skipper Lewis Gregory operating from the River End in tandem with Craig and Neil Wagner were rarely troubled and had added 26 to the overnight score by the time Vaughan was introduced from the Marcus Trescothick Pavilion first over went for 16, Gay striking four boundaries and clearly intent on carrying the game to Somerset's slow bowlers. In Leach's first over, Wagner hit a six over long-off to bring up a half-century stand from 57 struck a straight six off Vaughan and followed up next ball with a swept four as Durham's total reached 76, 29 runs behind, before Somerset made a much-needed had played well, facing 49 balls, before attempting to sweep a full delivery from Vaughan and falling lbw. It signalled a collapse as Gay quickly followed, caught by Overton, diving forward at short mid-wicket off Ackermann bagged a pair when playing Leach in the air to mid-off where Banton took a similar catch to Overton's, throwing himself forward. It was 92-6 when David Bedingham fell lbw to a Leach delivery that straightened from around the were still 13 runs from avoiding an innings defeat. Ollie Robinson and Graham Clark ensured that indignity was avoided with a partnership of 40 before Robinson aimed a big drive at Vaughan and was bowled for almost struck again with his next delivery, Raine driving it back and the bowler just failing to hold a low catch diving full length to his right. The lunch score was 152-7, 147 runs having been scored in the session off 40 was unbeaten on 24 and Durham led by 47. Leach had figures of 4-50 from 17 overs, and that became a five-for with 14 runs added when Clark's 89-ball innings of 32 ended with an edged forward defensive shot to wicketkeeper James struck again when George Drissell was caught and bowled off a leading edge. That left Raine with little option but to go on the attack and he cleared the ropes twice in a Vaughan claimed revenge in his next over as Raine holed out to long-off and, with 46 overs remaining, a two-day finish was guaranteed. Not surprisingly, Durham gave the new ball to left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson, whose second delivery was deposited over mid-wicket for six by Tom was greeted by a Josh Davey boundary to wide long-on as Somerset went for a quick kill. That plan suffered a setback when Davey fell leg-before to Parkinson, aiming to sweep, with the total on was 16-2 when Kohler-Cadmore edged Parkinson to second slip. Rew, on a pair, reverse swept his first ball for four and, on five, narrowly escaped a catch to second slip off Lammonby eased any tension with two fours off Drissell full-tosses, but was then bowled through the gate by Parkinson for 22 with Somerset halfway to their target. Rew quickly followed, caught at short mid-wicket to give Parkinson a fourth Abell was bowled by Drissell on the back foot with 24 needed. But Banton used the sweep and reverse-sweep to good effect to see Somerset home. Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay
Indian Express
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
The match at Lord's shows why a five-day Test beats the 20-over format
I feel bad for people who don't care for Test cricket. In what other form of the game would a haphazard defensive stroke, hardly off the middle of the bat and yielding zero runs, make the decibels go up around the stadium? Or, that a brief, two-minute confrontation right at the end of Day Three — sparked by a tactic unique to Test cricket: Time-wasting — would lead to two days of fiery tension and sledging, only to culminate in a warm display of sportsmanship and mutual respect? It should hardly matter for cricket fans that India lost the third Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy Test against England at Lords, the supposed mecca of cricket. The slow-burn match itself was a godsend in an era dominated by T20 cricket. A battle of attrition; of sheer will. Chasing a target of 193 — rather modest for a batting side whose lowest total across five innings in the first three Tests had been 364 — it was the bowling side that needed a miracle. But half an hour into the final day's play, in a twist emblematic of the inherent unpredictability that makes sports so compelling, it was India (at 82-7, with two sessions remaining) that suddenly needed one. Laidback fans now started to applaud every dot ball and yelp at every close call. And, at 147-9, despite Jasprit Bumrah's fighting performance and Ravindra Jadeja valiantly keeping the scorecard ticking, Mohammed Siraj found himself in a situation where he had to pull off a Jack Leach. Ardent followers of Test cricket can never forget Jack Leach, because of what he and Ben Stokes did on August 25, 2019, against Australia in what the press has termed the Miracle of Headingley. While Stokes' unbelievable 135 not out delivered one of England's most memorable Test victories, it was Leach's 17-ball score of 1 run that gave the current England captain the chance to drive home his country's greatest ever run-chase. Test cricket allows less to be more. Sadly, Siraj could not pull off a Leach, although the circumstances of his dismissal were most cruel (he defended Bashir's delivery successfully but the overspin took the ball backwards to knock off the bails). But he fought and how. He defended, he ran, he took body blows, literally. At the end, after the softest of dismissals, as he sank to his knees teary-eyed, the same English players whose faces Siraj had been in for all five days, even inviting a hefty fine for one incident, came to pat him on the back. Five days of intense strategy, hard work and emotion. Perhaps the beauty of Test cricket lies in this. It is gruelling to play and exacting to watch. But time is not a burden. It is like a character in a 1,000-plus-pages-long Tolstoy novel, or a five-act play. There are subplots and chapters. The characters have arcs. Second chances are given. Time presents opportunities for redemption, revenge, and perhaps even resurrection. And the stillness can still have your heart racing. A session can witness just about 50 runs in 30 overs but be nail-biting at the same time (India's run rate for the second session of Day 5 was 1.67, the lowest in this series). Ultimately, victory brings euphoria and defeat heartbreak not merely out of allegiance to your country, but because you have been there with your countrymen all along. It is brutal, but also beautiful. So much life that even five days don't seem like enough. Test cricket is about endurance — both for the players and the fans. And this quality alone should drive us to preserve it. Like I said, I feel bad for people who don't care for Test cricket.
France 24
15-07-2025
- Sport
- France 24
England call up Dawson to replace injured Bashir ahead of fourth Test
Dawson made the last of his three Test appearances eight years ago, but the 35-year-old is in line for an unexpected return to the international stage at Old Trafford. Despite having already broken the little finger on his left hand, Bashir took the winning wicket in a dramatic finish to England's 22-run victory over India in the third Test at Lord's on Monday. Bashir is set for surgery in the coming days and will miss the remainder of the five-match series, with England holding a 2-1 lead before the next Test in Manchester. Dawson's recall comes after his outstanding form in county cricket for Hampshire. The left-armer has been named the Professional Cricketers' Association Player of the Year in the past two seasons. Dawson was part of the England squad that won the 50-over World Cup in 2019. After three years out of the England setup, he made his international return in the T20 series against West Indies earlier this summer. Dawson has been picked ahead of fellow left-armer Jack Leach, despite the latter being centrally contracted. Leach was replaced as England's first-choice spinner by Bashir last year, although he featured in three Tests in Pakistan and was part of the squad that toured New Zealand over the winter.
