Left-arm spinner Leach was dominated out of the five-match sequence on Sunday because of a stress fracture in his again, dealing a significant blow to the hosts’ hopes of wresting the Ashes urn.

Although the 31-year-old might not be the largest identify in England’s assault, Leach has bowled probably the most overs and is the crew’s joint highest wicket-taker since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum took over final yr.

“They have said that they will announce a replacement in due course, but the decision is not straightforward because of the paucity of spin in the English game,” Atherton wrote within the Times newspaper.

“For years now, with the County Championship pushed to the margins of the season, counties have had no incentive to produce or play spinners and the county game has never been so threadbare for quality spin.”

Teenaged leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who made his check debut in Pakistan in December, and all-rounder Will Jacks are being touted as replacements and Joe Root’s part-time off-spin may very well be used extra.

“My suspicion is that they may call both Ahmed and Jacks into the squad, to gauge where they are at, but it would be no surprise if they rejigged the balance of their team for the Edgbaston test,” Atherton stated.

England had been already fretting on Stokes’ dodgy knee, which could prohibit his bowling within the opening check at Edgbaston beginning on June 16.

Former England spinner Monty Panesar believes England could decide an additional quick bowler and roll out inexperienced tracks tailored for a seam-heavy assault.

“They may just not even go with a (frontline) spinner for the first test match…” Panesar instructed Sky Sports.

“They may just change the pitch conditions, go with slightly greener surfaces where all the England fast bowlers, especially the seam bowlers, are in the game throughout the whole test match.”