Former England batter Mark Butcher has questioned why England have once again picked Jack Leach as their main spinner in the Test squad for the upcoming tour of the West Indies in March.
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Speaking on The Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher highlighted the way England have previously seemed hesitant to use Leach. The left-arm spinner struggled badly during this winter’s 4-0 defeat to Australia in the Ashes, taking six wickets in three matches at 53.50.
“I do not understand [why he’s been included], because over the course of the run-up to the Ashes they’ve proved that they had no confidence in picking him, whatsoever,” he said. “They did everything in their power not to include him against New Zealand and India right until the very end. Then they play him in Brisbane, which I don’t have an issue with, we just shouldn’t have batted first. But having had no cricket, he got spanked in Brisbane. And then they leave him out on the one pitch you must play the specialist spinner in Adelaide. Joe Root has shown no sign whatsoever of having any confidence in this guy”.
Butcher also questioned whether Leach is still England’s best spinner, or whether it would be worth looking elsewhere.
“After the mauling he got in Australia, for him to be the number one guy as a spinner again doesn’t make any sense. Whether or not he’s the best spinner we’ve got in the country, which I’m starting to doubt very much, at what point do we say we’re flogging the wrong horse here and try and bring somebody else in?
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“They’ve taken Matt Parkinson and I’d have taken his brother as well. You have a leg spinner and a left-arm spinner in Leach and Parkinson, I’d have taken Callum Parkinson too. I know Antigua can turn, there might well be some cause for the spinners to have some joy out there. But, you know, put it this way, if [Leach] plays all three Test matches and doesn’t have a good time then that really should be it, because I don’t see how you move forward from where that relationship is at the moment.”
Root has come under fire for his use of spinners during his England captaincy, and Butcher said that the captain may be part of the problem when it comes to Leach’s England form.
“Is part of the lack of improvement of the [England] spinners down to a captain who is naturally suspicious of them or doesn’t handle them particularly well? I think there’s plenty of evidence to say that’s a large slice of it, which again, is why I’m slightly confused. Because it would have made sense to me if Root, as part of the selection panel, had said, ‘you know what? It just isn’t working out with myself and Leach, let’s look somewhere else'”.
