Jack Leach will miss at least another four weeks of action, leaving the door open for fellow Somerset and England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir to feature in the early stages of the 2024 County Championship.

Leach has endured a miserable run of luck with injuries over the past 12 months. A lower back stress fracture saw the left-arm spinner ruled out of the entirety of the 2023 Ashes, while a left knee injury that he picked up on his return to action in the Hyderabad Test in January ruled Leach out of contention for the remainder of the series. It is that same knee injury that has ruled him out of content until at least early May.

That Hyderabad Test is the only game of cricket Leach has played since he picked up that stress fracture during England’s one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s in early June last year. England don’t play their next Test – against West Indies at Lord’s – until mid-July, so there is no indication as of yet that Leach is in doubt for that particular assignment.

A statement from Somerset read: “Somerset are likely to be without Jack Leach until early May as he continues his rehabilitation back to full fitness.”

Leach’s injury does, however, briefly solve a selection conundrum at Taunton. After Bashir’s breakout tour of India over the winter, Somerset suddenly found themselves in the position of possessing two of England’s three leading finger-spinners. And with early season pitches unlikely to offer spinners that much help, the prospect of Somerset fielding both was remote.

During the India-England series, Somerset head coach Jason Kerr said that he was considering loaning out Bashir to aid his development. “We start the season on April 5 and I’d be surprised if too many teams are playing two specialist spinners. So I understand there will be some questions about it,” Kerr told PA. “There’s still a lot of water to go under the bridge, but what I’m not going to do is stand in the way of anyone’s opportunity. We will always do what is best for the player and we’ve done it time and time again. We’ve allowed people to go on loan and get some cricket because it can benefit them and us in the future, and we’ve said no to players because they’re next in line and we might need them.

“We will look at each case as it arises but, historically, we’ve been open to it.”

Leach is not the only high profile absentee for Somerset in their opening round clash against Kent. Somerset will also be without Tom Abell, who tore his hamstring in a pre-season warm-up fixture, and Craig Overton, who is “nearing a return to full fitness following back surgery.”

Leach will miss at least the first four of Somerset’s 2024 County Championship matches.

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