The last time England toured New Zealand for a Test series in 2019, spinner Jack Leach ended up fearing for his life after contracting sepsis.
Leach suffers from Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that he was first diagnosed with at the age of 14 which requires him to takes immunosuppressant medication.
After the first Test, Leach contracted gastroenteritis which then turned into sepsis and saw him hospitalised. Speaking in 2020, Leach revealed he was so ill he thought he was going to die, stating: "I remember thinking 'don't fall asleep because you might not wake up'. It was that serious."
Now, three years on from that tour, Leach has returned to New Zealand for a two Test series and found himself reflecting on those "bad memories" when he checked into the same hotel in Hamilton where he fell ill in 2019.
"When I came back to this hotel I was like 'ah, there's bad memories coming here'," Leach said. "I was on a drip and had antibiotics in the other arm.
"It slowly got worse and worse. I was really struggling for a bit. It wasn't great, but that's all in the past now, I'm having too much fun to get ill now.
"It can be stress related, so maybe being a little bit more relaxed is actually helping that side of my health as well. Fingers crossed it stays that way."
And Leach returns to New Zealand a much more confident cricketer, with the 31-year-old thriving playing 'Bazball' under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. "That has probably the most important thing for me, having that backing and feeling like I belong," he added.
"I know at some point someone might come along who's better and takes my place, and that will be absolutely fair enough. But I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as I can and do as much as I can for the team."
