Spinner reveals before the series decider in Pakistan how a phone call from Ben Stokes helped lead to a return to form

At the start of the summer Jack Leach found himself out of the Test side and not sure how much fun he was having. The previous year had been ruined by a stress fracture of his back, the start of this one by a knee injury, and just as he returned to first-team cricket he fielded a call from Brendon McCullum telling him he was not going to be in England’s next Test squad. “After a long time out with injury,” he said, “I felt that might be it.”

Now he is back in the team and back in Rawalpindi, where on his last visit he took what he considers “probably my favourite wicket” to win the first Test of the 2022 series against Pakistan, and where in the build-up to Thursday’s series decider, ground staff are busy cooking up a pitch they hope will suit their own spinners but might just help their opponents’ too.