IND vs ENG 1st Test: Jack Leach suffers Serious Knee Injury: England’s woes compounded on day two of the ongoing India vs England 1st test in Hyderabad after senior spinner Jack Leach aggravated his ‘knee injury’ while saving a boundary at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Further confirmation regarding Jack Leach’s serious knee injury came from England’s spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel on Friday.
Jack Leach’s injury is a big setback for the Englishmen as he is the sole experienced spinner in the England side for the tour. The other three spinners are in their early days as far as experience is concerned.
The incident took place in the morning session of day two of India vs England 1st test in Hyderabad. Leach, in a bid to save the boundary, aggravated the knee and subsequently went off the field for medical attention.
The injury limited Jack Leach from bowling too many overs as he could only account for 16 of the 87 overs bowled in the day, with a maximum of four over spell.
England’s spin bowling coach confirmed the details as quoted by ESPNcricinfo as he said, “He banged his knee last night, the first dive down at fine leg. Then he banged it again today, and it’s giving him a little gyp, to be honest. You noticed in the outfield he was a little sluggish trying to get to balls, but he stuck at it, and I thought he actually bowled really, really well considering.”
Despite “serious injury concerns,” Jack Leach is expected to be out in the middle to aid his side against the mighty Indians.
“It must be pretty serious, or serious for him anyway, because the reality is he wouldn’t shirk that responsibility. It is sore enough. You watch him in the outfield and I don’t think it’s a graze. For him to come back and keep bowling the overs he did… I believe he’ll be back in the fourth innings.
“That’s what Jack does for this team, he’ll always put in. But it’s an bit of a shame from where he’s come [recovering from a stress fracture of the back last summer] to dive on one at fine leg and all of a sudden you’re hobbling around. He’ll be back. He’s one of the strongest guys in the team. We’ve had to share the load and the I thought the guys did really well.”
Though England have the likes of Joe Root, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Heartly and Shoaib Bashir in their ranks as the spin bowling option, Jack Leach’s presence will be key for the visitors. The experience that he possesses will come in handy, which apparently no other specialist spinner on the side has.
IND vs ENG 1st Test: England Lead by 126 Runs in 3rd Innings
As the stumps on day three of the India vs England 1st test were called, the visitors took a sigh of relief with what they have up on the scoreboard. From trailing by 190 runs to getting a decent lead of 126 runs in the third innings required special effort from the Englishmen.
The team got some good partnerships throughout the day 3 of the test. The likes of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ben Foakes made significant contributions to the team. But, what remained outstanding was Ollie Pope’s unbeaten knock of 148 runs.
Despite seeing wickets fall at the other end, the middle-order batter remained firm in his resolve, negating every bit of threat from the Indian bowlers, Pope has managed to rescue England to a respectable score.
England are six down currently as the curtains drew for the 3rd day at a score of 316. Ollie Pope and Rehan Ahmed have walked off unbeaten and will continue the proceedings the next day.