York teenager sets off on international cricket tour (From York Press)

Jack Leaning, 19, sets off on international cricket tour

11:06am Thursday 12th January 2012 in Yorkshire County Cricket Club

A BAPTISM of fire is inspiring Heworth teenager Jack Leaning as he jets off on his first international cricket tour.

The talented middle-order batsman warmed up for England under-19s duty in Bangladesh by facing the world’s number one bowling attack.

The junior national side’s winter training camp was held at the same South African base as the England Lions and coach Andy Flower’s senior squad.

That meant 18-year-old right-hander Leaning was taking guard in the nets against no less a quartet than James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett and Graham Onions.

The Yorkshire second teamer declared it was an “honour” to mix with players from the world’s top-ranked Test side in the formative stages of his career.

York College student Leaning flies to Bangladesh today as part of an 18-man U19s party hoping to put the experience to good use in a seven-match one-day international series.

Impressing the selectors on the sub-continent – starting in Chittagong on January 20 – could pay rich dividends for Leaning in 2012, at home and abroad.

Continuing to climb the ranks at Headingley is the youngster’s domestic ambition, while there is also the matter of an U19s tour to Australia in March and the U19s World Cup in the same country in August.

“It was brilliant to get the call-up for England after a lot of hard work,” said Leaning. “It could be a big year for me now.

“After this tour to Bangladesh, there is a tour to Australia in March and then the U19s World Cup. I will need to set my standards high.”

On the experience of facing England’s top bowlers in South Africa, Leaning said: “Broad, Anderson, Tremlett, Onions... we faced all of them in training.

“It was a massive experience. It’s something you don’t expect. We thought we would maybe get to face the Lions players, but then we got told we would face the first-team squad.

“It was quite an honour really and massive for someone as young as me, so early on. It was good to get a perspective on where you are compared to them and to see how they train and how you need to adapt.”

The time spent with the U19s in both South Africa and Bangladesh forms part of a steep learning curve for Leaning.

“South Africa was good,” he said. “It brought the lads together and it was good experience playing in a different country and different conditions.

“The heat is one thing to cope with – it was 40 to 45 degrees every day – and then there is the different opposition and different sorts of wickets.

“It will be different again in Bangladesh, where there will be a humidity factor. There will also be different styles of wicket.”

Although he is making rapid cricketing strides, Leaning initially appeared to be following the same footballing path as his father, Andy, the former York City goalkeeper.

He was on the books of Sheffield United – when Andy was the Blades' goalkeeping coach – but football gradually took more of a back seat.

Having represented Yorkshire at every level from the age of 11, through the Academy to the second team, Leaning has now made the transition from England U15s to U19s.

In 2008, Leaning wrote his name into the Yorkshire record-books when he hit an unbeaten 164 for the U14s, beating John Sadler’s previous mark and eclipsing the junior efforts of former England skipper Michael Vaughan and Tykes captain Andrew Gale.

The following year he became one of the York & District Senior League’s youngest-ever centurions, hitting 109 for Heworth in division one.

In 2010, Leaning led his club side into the premier division with a series of stunning displays, ending the season with 752 runs at an average of 94.

The White Rose county then monopolised the former Archbishop Holgate’s School pupil’s services for the majority of the 2011 campaign.

Leaning’s 781 Academy runs at an average of 41.11 earned him frequent second XI outings, culminating in an eye-catching knock of 150 in the seconds’ final match of the season at Worcester.

Despite his achievements so far, Leaning admits there is “a long way to go” before he can emulate the likes of Gale and York’s Jonny Bairstow by becoming a Tykes regular.

He said: “It’s a bit early for me to be thinking about the first team at Yorkshire, but if I have a good season I might have a chance of playing a Pro40 game or a Championship game.

“I would have to play exceptionally well for that. Hopefully, when I am there, I will be in the frame for the second team this summer.”