England spinner Jack Leach says he wants to play “as much cricket as possible” in all formats of the game after returning from injury for Somerset last month.
The 33-year-old, who has 36 Test caps and has taken 126 wickets for his country at an average of 34.40, signed a new two-year contract until the end of 2026 with his hometown club on Friday.
Leach, traditionally a white-ball specialist, returned to play for his county side in May for the first time in a year having been plagued by injury problems over the past 12 months.
He suffered a knee injury during England’s Test series against India in February that required surgery and missed the Ashes last summer because of a stress fracture in his back.
“Over the last five or six years it’s been all about red-ball cricket and how I can get on in Test cricket,” Leach told BBC Radio Somerset.
“Now is an opportunity where I feel like after injury I want to play as much cricket as possible, whatever format that is and really test my skills out.”
Leach has played three County Championship matches for Somerset this campaign and featured in only his second-ever T20 match for the club earlier this month in their defeat by Gloucestershire in the Blast.
“There’s things I can learn from the short format I can bring into the longer format and vice versa,” Leach said.
“I love learning more about the game and I’ve definitely got a lot to learn in that format.”
