Daryl Mitchell

Having swapped the cricket field for the laptop in recent years, I somewhat begrudgingly write this piece on the last day of my Christmas break having been chased by Big Joe this morning. Alas I may not be a complimentary as I otherwise would have been with better timing.

My first memories of Joe are a young kid on the Academy with a massive head (literally not figuratively), and an equally adequate amount of hair. As his hairline began to recede to a Bobby Charlton sweep and then the Jason Statham look he rocks today, fortunately for Joe his cricketing prowess increased rather than decreased at a similar rate.

Leachy obviously started out as a batter predominantly, and who could forget his magnificent maiden century at Cheltenham in 2013 when the team needed it most. Equally memorable for me was the headline on ESPN Cricinfo that evening. ‘Gloucestershire struggle to shift Leach’, never a truer word spoken (again literally not figuratively).

Leachy was ahead of his time with the bat in some ways. Whilst top order players had given themselves a little bit of room to open up the offside for a while in one day cricket, Joe must have been one of the first top 6 batters who perfected the back away and slash technique in the red ball format, Bazball eat your heart out.

Although he quickly changed career path to lead the attack at New Road, this wasn’t the end of his contributions with the bat, a second first class century arrived in 2016 to draw him level with great friend and legendary all-rounder Jack Shantry. 8 years on I’m sure Joe will be looking to surpass Shants next season.

Leachy also had an impact as a pinch hitter in white ball cricket, delivering some lusty blows at the top of the order. The contribution I remember most fondly however was at Hove in the T20 quarter final 2019, where Joe selflessly let an inswinger from Recce Topley hit the stumps in the first over, allowing an early entrance for Moeen and a subsequent match winning 121 not out.

On to the serious stuff!

As captain in 2014, I was a little nervous heading into the season with Alan Richardson having retired. The loss of Gaz Andrew to injury in the early part of the season also felt like a blow at the time. Little did I know that this would lead to the emergence to one of the County’s greatest seam bowlers of the modern era. Helped by the spin of Saeed Ajmal, Leachy formed part of three-pronged seam attack with Jack Shantry and Charlie Morris that lead our charge towards promotion that season. For me, that was the real start and what was to follow in the subsequent years has rarely been matched up and down the country.

Leachy was a captain's dream, a wholehearted bowler who you knew would leave everything out on the field and would never complain about bowling the tough overs. Along with the A+ attitude was a highly skilled bowler with a great cricket brain, able to work out a batsman or a situation better than most. Leachy’s potency with the new ball in particular, was remarkable and as a former opening batter myself, I’m glad he was on my side that’s for sure.

As well as his brilliant performances with the ball, Joe developed into a brilliant leader, leading by example always but also using his experience to become an excellent tactician and masterminding our promotion in 2017 as Div 2 champions.

Leachy continues to lead the WCCC attack today and goes from strength to strength, taking 450+ first class wickets is a magnificent achievement and one that should be held in extremely high esteem. A role model for all his fellow pro’s and aspiring cricketers. I wish Joe and Becks a magnificent year off the field in 2024 and Leachy and the rest of the team a magnificent 2024 on it!

Best Wishes

Mitch