England spinner Jack Leach heaped praise on Australia's Nathan Lyon, saying the veteran spinner is very impressive and he has been studying how he deals with home conditions ahead of the first Test of the upcoming Ashes 2021-22, starting on December 8 in Brisbane.
However, Leach said that he is also taking inspiration from India's Ravindra Jadeja on how to bowl in Australia, but said that he will be sticking to his strengths in the upcoming Ashes series, as he is set to play his first Test on Australian soil.
Leach told reporters on Wednesday, “For years I've watched Nathan Lyon and he's very impressive. Just how strong his stock balls is, and on wickets that don’t necessarily offer a lot spin wise he's found ways to extract extra bounce, dip, and all the other things. They're the kind of things that I've been trying to add in but still sticking to my strengths as well.”
On the Indian left-arm spinner Jadeja, the English man said: “I don't think (Jadeja) did too much different to what he does in India. That's another nice thing to see. He's taken what he does, is doing pretty similar things and having success.”
Leach also believes that his chances have improved with the return of the all-rounder Ben Stokes for the Ashes series.
He said, “From the (English) summer, the feedback was that Stokesy not being in the side, not having that all-round option in the top order, kind of made things difficult for me to get in the side. It's great to have him back around and he's been brilliant. He's such a team man and the group is only better for having him in it.”
(With AFP Inputs)
