Jack Leach inks Somerset contract extension following his exclusion from the ECB’s annual central contract list.
Jack Leach extends Somerset deal after losing ECB central contract.
After disclosing that he was let go from his England central contract, Jack Leach signed a contract extension with Somerset.
Leach was the only spinner to capture 50 County Championship wickets this season and has played 39 Test matches for England, most recently on their tour to Pakistan a year ago. However, he has fallen so far down the hierarchy that England has chosen to send Will Jacks, an all-rounder, to Australia as their backup spin option rather than him.
Since the beginning of the 2021–2022 winter, he has been under central contract; however, next year, he will revert to his county contract with Somerset. Leach’s contract with his local team was set to expire at the end of the upcoming season, but the county revealed on Monday that he has now agreed to a two-year extension that would last until the end of 2028.
Although England’s central contracts for 2025–2026 have not yet been revealed, Leach told the BBC last week that managing director Rob Key had warned him that his contract would not be extended.
“My contract was up, so he obviously told me that and at the same time, said about the Ashes squad and that I wasn’t going to be in it,” Leach said.
“I was gutted about that. That was really my aim for the summer, and it wasn’t to be, so [now] it’s time to reflect and try to keep getting better and get myself back in there… I don’t know from their point of view whether they have completely moved past me, but I believe I’m still getting better and I need to keep showing that in county cricket.”
After failing to appear for Somerset in any format this season, Shoaib Bashir—who has surpassed Leach to become England’s first-choice spinner—is poised to go. He is probably going to keep his central contract for 2025–2026, so the ECB will pay his wage instead of the county he joins.
In other news, legspinning all-rounder Calvin Harrison signed a permanent contract with Northamptonshire after making an impression on loan from Nottinghamshire earlier this year, and Sussex confirmed the acquisition of batting all-rounder Jack Leaning from Kent on a three-year agreement.