After Jack Leach scored an important 41 not out and shared a crucial 90-run last-wicket partnership with Saqib Mahmood in the third Test between England and the West Indies, Michael Vaughan has urged England's top order to learn from the way Leach batted ahead of their second innings.
Leach scored more runs than any of England's frontline batters, staging a recovery alongside Mahmood which took the visitors from 114-9 to 204. And Vaughan was particularly impressed with Leach's technique, describing it as "better than most of the top order".
Speaking on BT Sport, Vaughan said: "He maximises every ounce of ability that he has. He works so hard at the game, but it’s his mind, I just like the way he works out a situation.
"But technically, I think he’s better than most of the top order. Look at the way he’s playing here, look at his eyes, look at his head position, right over his front pad. Look at how late he’s playing that ball."
Leach does have a Test match half-century to his name, having scored 92 as a nightwatchman against Ireland in 2019, and has also made two other first-class fifties. And Vaughan believes his method of batting in the first innings in Grenada is how England should approach their second innings.
"When the ball’s moving around you have two options: you can either be ultra-aggressive and hit the bowler of his length, which is very very risky, or you play the Jack Leach method," he added. “You look at Joe Root here, he loses his balance outside his crease.
"You look at Alex Lees, again going towards the ball outside his crease. You go back to Jack Leach and how far he was back on his stumps.
“The Jack Leach method is the method I would prefer to see, if it’s in your DNA, on this kind of wicket. You look at Jack Leach, how late the interception points are, right back on his stumps, right under his eyeline.
"All the other England players, they are going at the ball, they are creating momentum with their hands towards the ball. I think – I’m not saying they should do it now – but a lot of the England batters in that top order, if they want to have success and be consistent against the moving ball, they ought to follow a bit of Jack."
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