In what could be a huge setback for the hosts ahead of the upcoming five-Test Ashes series, England spinner Jack Leach has been ruled out of the series on with a low back (lumbar) stress fracture.
Leach, 31, the Somerset slow-left-armer, developed low back symptoms during England’s Test victory over Ireland on Saturday. Later, a scan in London revealed a stress fracture, which will now keep him sidelined for the upcoming Ashes Test series, which gets underway at Edgbaston on Friday (June 16).
Meanwhile, England will announce a replacement for the spinner for the Ashes series in due course.
Earlier, hosts England had announced their squad on Saturday with pacer Josh Tongue retaining his place in an unchanged 16-member squad, which is playing the ongoing match against Ireland, for the first two Ashes Tests against Australia.
Notably, Tongue was added at the last moment to England’s squad to face Ireland in the one-off Test at Lord’s after fellow pacers Ollie Robinson and James Anderson picked up ankle and groin niggles respectively in the County Championship. Tounge was among the wickets against Ireland and his impressive performance at Lord’s helped him sealing a place in England’s squad for the first two Ashes matches.
Though Robinson and Anderson missed out on featuring in the Ireland Test due to their respective injuries, the duo are likely to be fit in time for the opening Ashes Test which also means that wicketkeeper-batter Ben Foakes will not feature in the opening two matches of the highly-anticipated series.