Unassuming hero Jack Leach stood tall through the looking glass

He played Robin to Ben Stokes’ Batman but Jack Leach was still a hero of England’s Headingley miracle.

England’s Jack Leach, left, celebrates with Ben Stokes at Headingley. Picture: AP

Jack Leach wiping his glasses ­before facing a hostile Pat Cummins was the most gloriously ­English thing ever. He might have put the kettle on back at the team hotel and celebrated his hour of extraordinary willpower in the Headingley Test by reading a good Agatha Christie. Pleased with his knock? He’d be chuffed to bits.

My dear English mother cried at the result of one of the most ­extraordinary sporting contests of all time. Ben Stokes, bravo. That was a rumble in the jungle. His second once-in-a-lifetime innings in the past six weeks. But the sight of the unassuming, technically challenged, resolute yet petrified Leach fumbling around at the other end, lasting exactly 60 minutes in England’s hour of need, getting raucous applause for every delivery he survived, cleaning his spectacles like it was an episode of Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em before bracing himself to face Cummins’ fearsome 145km/h deliveries, there was magic in that. He’s a hero to every hardworking, dedicated plodder out there who’s lot in life is to be the supporting act. The majesty in that.

Leach made one run. What a run. Unbeaten, the game ended just when he looked ready to go on with it. If Stokes was Batman — and what a bat he had — Leach was his wonder of a sidekick. Amid all the impossible tension, we had to keep waiting a sec while he cleaned his specs. It was a wonder he wasn’t wearing a cardigan. A wonder he didn’t spend the drinks break dipping biscuits into a nice hot cup of tea.

“I know I look stupid when I’m out there,” Leach told Sky Sports. “I had to make sure my glasses were clean, because I wouldn’t want to be facing up with the drips of sweat coming down. It got the job done. It was a special feeling. Stokesy, unbelievable, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The crowd, insane. To be part of that at the end was an incredible feeling.”

Stokes, fearing the worst, was unable to watch Leach face any of his 17 balls. You’d think he would hide his trepidation from his partner, stiff upper-lip and all that, but no.

“He didn’t say a lot when I went out,” Leach said. “Obviously when I first went in, it was about the fact that he was going to have a lot of the strike, being ready to run two, and I just broke it down into the balls that I had to face. He told me at one point, ‘I couldn’t watch that ball’. And as one of the bowlers was running in I thought, he’s not watching again. I thought, ‘have a bit of faith’.

“You do sort of zone out but I didn’t think ‘oh God, it’s quiet’ when they were running in, I thought ‘watch the ball, watch the ball’. But then the cheers when Stokesy’s sixes were just going over the boundary, the crowd just went berserk. We were desperate to win this game, and somehow we’ve pulled it off. It’s very special.”

England needed 73 runs to win when Leach joined Stokes. He was a bespectacled No 11 with a first-class average of 12. He had an average of 4.5 from 13 innings from Somerset this season. He’d made 92 as a nightwatchman against Ireland at Lord’s this season to prove he knew one end of the bat from the other, but still. He told Stokes he would swap those 92 runs for just one at Headingley.

Last summer, he was struck a sickening blow to the head by South African speedster Morne Morkel in a County Championship game. Fast bowlers have pounded him with short stuff ever since. He had worked tirelessly since the Morkel scare to improve his methods.

With England needing two to win, Leach faced Cummins. Australia had a full over at him. The field placements were aggressive: three slips, a gully, leg gully. Short leg was under his nose. First ball? Bouncer? He evaded it. Second ball? At the body. He bunted it to safety. Third ball? Rib-tickler. He pushed a single. That was his run. He ran like his life depended on it.

“I couldn’t look when Jack Leach was batting,” Stokes said. “I was just waiting for the reaction of the crowd. It’s amazing. The pressure Jack was under, he faced a crucial 15-odd balls. Leachy had to stay in there. He’s got some serious balls.”

Leach wasn’t selected for the opening Ashes Test. So he went back to his local club for a hit.

About 45 spectators were at North Perrott Cricket Ground, in Somerset, when he played for his boyhood club, Taunton Deane. According to a report in London’s The Telegraph, the crowd would have been closer to 20 if not for the cider festival in the clubhouse.

“At the root of it, I am a Taunton Deane player who has played for England,” he said at the time. “It’s amazing to remember why you play the game and to do it with a smile on your face.”

Leach paid his £10 club fees. A 47-year-old Australian, Jason Squire, was the side’s other spinner. What did Leach do? He played second fiddle to Squire, bowling third change, hitting 56 batting at number six. Squire told The Telegraph: “He is such a great guy … he turns up at the club when he wants to and is treated as one of the guys. There is certainly no big ‘I am’ with him. If you were at the club and you didn’t know him, you would never guess. He’s totally humble, unassuming. He’s worked so hard. It’s a great credit to him.”

Leach replied: “It reminds you that it’s still the same game — 22 yards, a red ball. I feel like I’m experiencing the whole spectrum, from Lord’s to club cricket. The reason I play is because I enjoy the game and wherever that is, you have to make the most of it.”

Leach received none of the headlines of Stokes. But Specsavers has offered him free glasses for life. It might even throw in the cleaning cloths. After stumps, Leach led the England team back to the pitch. He re-enacted his single that tied the scores. Stokes said it best on Twitter: “Legend.”