Jack Leach only featured once in England's Test series in India, having also missed the Ashes against Australia last summer; Leach returned home ahead of the third Test and will undergo surgery on his injured knee
Saturday 24 February 2024 21:44, UK
Jack Leach has confirmed he will undergo surgery to address the knee injury which ruled him out of the final four Tests of England's series in India.
Leach suffered the injury in the field during England's first impressive Test victory in Hyderabad, where he played a restricted role and only took one wicket in each innings.
The 32-year-old missed the second Test through injury and was replaced by Shoaib Bashir, with Leach then flying home from their mid-series break in Abu Dhabi to continue his recovery in the UK.
"I'm going to have an operation to get the rest of the swelling out because it's not budging," Leach told BBC Radio 5 Live. "It was quite an unfortunate one.
"It was the second ball of the first innings in the field so that whole game I was playing with this knee problem.
"I obviously knocked it a few times throughout that game and it has just created a long period of recovery. I need to get the operation done and then hopefully I can get back to playing cricket.
"I'd love to have a run of playing cricket and getting into a bit of a rhythm again and hopefully that can happen again once I've got this sorted."
Leach has been plagued by injuries and health issues since making his England debut in 2018, with the series opener in India his first Test appearance since suffering a stress fracture to his back in June last year.
England elected against calling up a replacement to Leach for the remainder of the series, leaving Ben Stokes' side with a spin attack featuring Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Bashir and the part-time bowling of Joe Root.
Ahmed featured in the first three Tests but also returned home early ahead of the fourth Test due to an urgent family matter.
Leach's Somerset start their County Championship season away to Kent on April 5, while England's next scheduled Test match after the India series is against the West Indies at Lord's on July 10.
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