Jason Gillespie likens Jack Leach to Ashley Giles as a role player to help seamers

Former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has likened English left-arm off-spinner Jack Leach to another former left-arm spinner Ashley Giles. In 4 days time, England will embark on a tough 2-month long, 5-match Test series in India with an aim to clinch a first red-ball series win here since 2012 when Alastair Cook led the Three Lions won a 4-match series by 2-1. Spin and spinners will have a major role to play as always in Indian conditions.

Jason Gillespie claimed that Jack Leach is more or less of a “role player” whose main job is to compliment and help the pacers of the team to constantly pressurize opposing batters. Gillespie sees a hint of former spinner Ashley Giles in Leach who was also known for not picking many wickets but helping pacers in setting up batters.

Leach is among the 4 spinners selected for the Test series alongside right-arm leg spinner Rehan Ahmed who has a single Test cap and right-arm off-spinner Shoaib Bashir who will be hoping to earn his debut cap in the 1st Test at Hyderabad and so will hope Tom Hartley.

Among these 3, Jack Leach has the most amount of experience in terms of playing more International Test cricket as he has been a part of 35 Tests for the Three Lions, picking up an impressive amount of 124 wickets, including 5 fifers and a single 10 wicket haul.

He will take part in the Test series as England’s main spinner but despite that Jason Gillespie believes that Leach will just be a role player.

“Leach is a fine spinner, but he’s a role player for England, much in the mould of Ashley Giles in the 2005 Ashes. Giles was unheralded, averaging two wickets a Test in that memorable series, but his complementing of the four quicks shouldn’t be underestimated. Leach does a similar job for England now,” Gillespie said, as quoted by Daily Mail. 

Then in the next part of the interview, Gillespie went on to claim that Jack Leach will be England’s key spinner because they cannot simply rely on either of the inexperienced Rehan Ahmed or Tom Hartley or Shoaib Bashir.

“He’s going to have to be quite a bit more prominent in India, with Rehan Ahmed, a leg-spinner with a lot of potential but just one cap, and two new picks in Tom Hartley, of Lancashire, and Somerset’s Shoaib Bashir behind him.” – Gillespie added. 

Jason Gillespie Suggests England Pacers To Compliment Jack Leach

The 48-year-old former Aussie pacer who retired after registering 259 Test wickets, emphasized on the fact that Jack Leach’s slow arm off spin will only work if the English pacers keep up pressure on from the other end. Gillespie feels so because Indian batters are proficient when it comes to playing spin and that will make the job even more difficult for the pacers as well as spinners.

“Being lead spinner changes the onus on you as a bowler. And by the way, Indians are pretty decent players of spin. So what England must do is make sure their pace attack complements Leach’s slow left-armers.” Gillespie concluded.