Jack Leach’s maiden half-century: Watch Joe Root celebrates nightwatchman’s efforts post opening the batting

Jack Leach’s maiden half-century: The night watchman ended up scoring a maiden Test half-century after being sent to open the batting.

During the second day of the ongoing one-off Test of the Ireland tour of England at Lord’s, England spinner Jack Leach turned the tables by scoring a maiden Test half-century. What came as a source of amazement was the fact that Leach had been sent in to open the batting as a nightwatchman last evening.

After England bundled out Ireland for 207 in 58.2 overs on Day 1, the hosts were slated to bat a solitary over. In a bid to prevent debutant Jason Roy from facing the new ball, England sent Leach to face the lone over. The left-hand had successfully managed to face six balls from Ireland pacer Tim Murtagh, who had registered a maiden five-wicket haul yesterday.

While both Leach and Rory Burns survived the first 10 overs in the first session today, the latter was caught behind in the following over off Boyd Rankin. Having scored 6 (25) in the first innings, Burns played an extra ball for the same number of runs in the second.

Having got his eye in, Leach scored as many as four fours in the next two overs. With equal assistance from Roy, the English pair started to increase the run rate and eventually reach their individual half-centuries.

It was on the third delivery of the 23rd over when when Leach edged a Stuart Thompson delivery for a boundary through the third-man region to bring up his half-century.

Jack Leach’s maiden half-century:

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