Joe Leach

Joe Leach started as a seam-bowling all-rounder but later, he worked on his batting skills to become a complete package. Born in Stafford, Leach moved his way up from minor counties to Worcestershire, before becoming the captain of the county. Over the years, the all-rounder has played more than 100 first-class games and has been Worcestershire’s to-go man with the ball and now with the bat too.

Leach started his professional career with minor counties as a right-arm fast bowler who knew to strike the ball in the lower order. The right-armer made his first-class debut for Leeds/Bradford MCCU back in 2012. While he made his Championship debut for Worcestershire in August that year. Leach claimed a maiden first-class century against Gloucestershire in 2013 and a maiden five-wicket haul against Kent in 2014, but it wasn’t until 2015 when he lived up to his name.

During the 2015 county season, the Stafford-born worked on his accuracy to bag 59 wickets, the most by any Worcestershire bowler in the first division. He also took a hat-trick from the first three-ball of a Royal London’s match against Northants that year. Since then, the all-rounder hasn’t looked back, after the departure of Daryl Mitchell. Leach filled in the captaincy boots to become the Kiwiman’s successor, in 2016. 

Since the captaincy reign, the Stafford-born has become the go-to bowler for Worcestershire and added his batting abilities - he has become a complete package. However, 2018 saw the Worcestershire captain getting ruled out of much of the summer with a stress back fracture. The following year, he returned to action to have an unpleasant season. But Leach has turned the tables since the 2020 season as his performances both as a captain and a player have been staggering. 

(As of July 2021)