South Africa's Simon Harmer said England should take Jack Leach on the Test tour of his homeland this winter as he suggested a lack of spin coaches in county cricket is leaving slow bowlers "isolated". Since Ben Stokes' international retirement in June, England have rejigged the balance of their side with Dan Lawrence's part-time off-spin now supporting four fast bowlers - a policy they could maintain when they play South Africa in three Tests from December 17. However, Proteas frontline off-spinner Harmer, a county-cricket stalwart with Essex, bagged 14 wickets in three games in the just-completed 2-1 series win at home to Australia, including a 10-wicket match haul in the deciding Test at Cape Town.
Somerset left-arm spinner Leach last played for England two years ago - he does not have a central contract - and national selector Marcus North recently told the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast that the team were moving in a "different direction." Harmer, though, told the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast Leach, who has 142 wickets in 39 Tests to date an an average of 34.07, "would be his guy" as England prepare to tackle South Africa in Johannesburg, Centurion and Cape Town, live on Sky Sports. "If you are going to play a spinner at those venues, you need, in the first innings, somebody who can hold an end so that your seamers can rotate, attack and bowl four overs of aggressive, fast bowling. "If you don't have that control, it makes it very difficult to find 90 overs in a day and how that stacks up with your seamers.
So, for me, Leach is still the guy for England. "I know Marcus North was on a podcast saying that they're moving away from him, but I just don't understand [that]. "I'm sure the chats are, 'well, he doesn't bowl teams out on day five', but the amount of control that he gives you, I just think at the venues that South Africa will be hosting England, if you are going to take a spinner, he is probably your guy." Harmer also namechecked Shoaib Bashir - who is on an England central contract - Yorkshire's Dom Bess and Sussex's Jack Carson as players good enough for international cricket, but says they need more guidance at domestic level.
England recently appointed former Glamorgan coach and ex-Yorkshire spinner Richard Dawson as elite national spin bowling lead in an attempt to boost that element of the game. Harmer said: "I worked with [former Leicestershire spinner] Carl Crowe for the first time at the SA20 with Durban's Super Giants and he is an absolute genius when it comes to spin bowling. He understands the game and the biomechanics of spin bowling.
"How he isn't being utilised more within the county system, I don't understand. "It's not a lack of resources, it's just a lack of want to get [spin] structures into the county game. Listen to Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton and guests dissect the game's big talking points.
"I think as a result of that, a lot of spinners feel isolated, feel alone, like they don't have the means in order for them to take their game to the next level. "I think it's something that needs to be looked at. How are guys being developed when they are not with the England national team?
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