Jack Leach has endured a torrid 12 months but insists he can achieve a lot more with England

Jack Leach was riding the crest of a wave last summer - establishing himself as England's specialist Test spinner and enjoying cult-hero status following England's famous Ashes victory at Headingley. However, the last 12 months have presented a very different challenge.

Leach is renowned for overcoming adversity. The 29-year-old has a compromised immune system having suffered with Crohn's disease since the age of 14, but he has been forced to contend with various bouts of illness since England's tour of New Zealand last November.

Following the first Test in Maunganui, the left-arm spinner contracted gastroenteritis, and was later hospitalised with a bout of sepsis caused by his body's response to the illness.

He battled back to fitness for the tour of South Africa in January, only to be sent home to recuperate after coming down with Covid-19-like symptoms.

His frustrations were compounded when England's trip to Sri Lanka in March was curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he was forced to watch from the sidelines when England returned to action against West Indies and Pakistan this summer.

"I guess it's been a bit of an up-and-down rollercoaster ride, but that's sport isn't it?" Leach told Sky Sports.

"I know I want to achieve a lot more with England and I feel like my best cricket is still ahead of me. Obviously illness and things like that I can't do much about.

"For me it is about controlling what I can control. I'm looking to press on whenever that opportunity comes.

"Hopefully after Christmas there are some good tours coming up, and beyond that some great cricket still to be involved in, so I feel I've still got a big part to play."

Leach spent 12 weeks in England's bio-secure bubble exclusively as a reserve this summer, with his Somerset team-mate Dom Bess the preferred choice, and while he concedes the sterile environment was mentally gruelling, it seems to have fuelled his hunger.

"It was definitely tough. I had my struggles with it, but I guess you have to keep reminding yourself of how lucky we are," he said.

"It was a tough situation for everyone, and for the game of cricket we knew that it was important that those Test matches went ahead.

"You had to have a lot of players there within the bubble, ready to go if things happened, so I knew what my role was within that.

"I wanted to play Test cricket so I was in the place where that could happen, so I'll do everything I can to do that and now I'm just focusing on what's to come and I'm looking forward to it."

Leach, who is involved in a local project to rehabilitate ex-offenders back into the workplace, has only featured in three first-class matches since last year's Ashes, but he will be hoping 2021 offers him the opportunity to rebuild his Test career.

The bespectacled spinner enjoyed an impressive start to life in an England shirt, taking 34 wickets in 10 Test matches at 29 apiece, and he also starred with the bat - scoring 92 as nightwatchman against Ireland in July 2019.

Yet ironically, it was his stoic 17-ball innings in England's epic Ashes victory against Australia at Headingley last August that earned him cult-hero status, with Specsavers offering him 'free glasses for life' following his exploits.

Leach's innings yielded the solitary run, but his 76-run partnership with the irrepressible Ben Stokes provided one of the most exhilarating triumphs in Ashes history.

"I did watch it back during lockdown. I think it was replayed on Sky and they had the guys commentating beside it, talking through it. That was the first time I actually watched it," Leach admitted.

"I struggled to watch it with the missed run-out chance and how it could have been so different - those big moments in sport where you're either a hero or you go to zero.

"I think it was an amazing day and I guess it keeps you striving for more of that success and maybe that's made the last year or so even harder, but I think with that I've learnt a lot and I think I'm ready to push on again and do some good stuff for England."