Worcestershire's Leach to retire at end of season

Joe Leach has taken 456 first-class wickets for the Pears - and made 3,881 runs, including two centuries

Worcestershire seamer Joe Leach is to retire at the end of the season.

After undergoing knee surgery in January, the 33-year-old Staffordshire-born new-ball specialist took 14 wickets in the Pears' first seven County Championship Division One games of the season before missing two matches in June because of the same issue.

After an injection earlier this month to help ease the condition, the club's former captain is still hoping to be back for the relegation-threatened Pears' final five Championship games of the campaign in August and September.

But the Shrewsbury School-educated Leach, one of the Pears' seemingly never-ending crop of Shropshire-reared players, has now said he will not play on after that.

"There are a lot of factors that come into it," said Leach, who stood down as captain in 2021 after five seasons in the role having led the county to promotion from Division Two of the Championship in his first season as skipper in 2017.

"The knee injury, although not the sole contributary factor, has certainly played a part in my decision. The body is probably not able to do what it once was. But outside that, I’m just ready really.

"There is a multitude of reasons that feed into it. There comes a time in your career when you are excited for the next chapter and that’s where I’m at now at this moment.

"I’ve achieved more than I ever thought I would do in the game but there is one little frontier, one little barrier that I’m massively keen to achieve before I sign off at the end of September.

"That is for us to retain our status in Division One and to help the guys in August and September to do that."

Worcestershire are currently in the second relegation place in the top tier in ninth spot, five points behind their Midlands rivals Warwickshire, with five Championship matches remaining.

Joe Leach captained Worcestershire to the County Championship Division Two title in 2017 - and took 48 wickets in last season's promotion-winning team

Leach will be a 'big loss'

Analysis: Trevor Owens BBC Hereford & Worcester sports editor

Joe Leach's retirement will be a big loss to Worcestershire, having been a stalwart at New Road for a decade.

Originally signed as a top-six batsman, he reinvented himself as a cornerstone of the bowling attack and has now taken 456 first-class wickets for Worcestershire.

With the departure of a host of players at the end of last season, the former skipper's influence has been all the more important within the dressing room this summer.

His season has been blighted by a knee injury, but he is aiming to be fit for the Championship run-in.

And Worcestershire will be very much hoping he will be as his experience and ability could be key to the Pears' hopes of remaining in Division One.