The Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon has rated Jack Leach as England’s best spinner and also expressed his anticipation of how the tourists perform during the Ashes.
He believes that the spin will play a key role in deciding the winner of the highly prestigious series and has also predicted a surprise pick to lead the way for England.
Lyon spoke to reporters during a Cricket Australia sponsorship announcement in Sydney on Thursday and provided plenty of insight into the current plight of the Aussies’ Ashes rivals and in particular, their spin contingent ahead of the Ashes series on home soil that commences in November.
England will miss the services of Shoaib Bashir who sustained a finger fracture during the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy and the likes of Liam Dawson and Rehan Ahmed remain out of favour.
It means that Joe Root and Jacob Bethell will take up the majority of the spin bowling responsibility for England in The Oval contest. and Lyon suggests the side will need to reconsider their plans prior to the first test of the Ashes in Perth.
Despite Anderson said Bashir has been selected to replicate him, Lyon believes that Leach is still the best spinner of England.
“I obviously played with Jimmy Anderson last year at Lancashire, and they basically said that they’re picking Bashir to do what I do,” Lyon said.
“So I took a little bit of pride out of Jimmy respecting a little bit of what I’ve been able to do in my career. But Bashir has been okay.”
“Jacob Bethell is playing this Test match [at The Oval against India], and he looks like he’ll take up the spin bowling from Liam Dawson. But in my eyes, Jack Leach is still their best spinner.”
Jack Leach has not played since last year’s tour of Pakistan, where he returned with 16 wickets at an average of 31.43 and a strike rate of 50.75 in three tests in that series were still well ahead of Bashir’s nine wickets.
Leach took 6 for 63 in his most recent outing for Somerset against Durham. He is currently the fourth leading wicket-taker and the leading spinner, in division one of the County Championship this season, with 39 wickets at 24.76 including two six-wicket hauls.
Leach has played three tests in Australia on the 2021-22 Ashes tour, taking six wickets at 53.50 and was left out of the final test in Hobart.
“It is a massive role, and it can be a massive challenge for people who haven’t done it in the past in these conditions. But I’m not going to let my secrets out so they come out and perform well out here.”
Our guys know how to play spin really well in this country. That’s probably what helped me produce my skill to where it is at the moment. I know I’ll keep trying getting better, and we’ll see how their spinners go,” he concluded.
