If any confirmation were needed that Jack Leach has become an England cult hero, it came on the third evening at The Oval. Leach had walked out to bat alongside Jofra Archer, with England eight down and sitting on a 374-run lead when people began to rise in their seats and join in with a booming chorus that echoed around the ground: "Stand up if you love Jack Leach!"

Only those of a green-and-gold persuasion declined to join the choir. Leach's fan club has grown steadily since the middle of summer, but largely because of his batting exploits rather than his spin bowling. First came the 92 as nightwatchman opener against Ireland at Lord's, for which he was named Man of the Match; then the valiant 1 off 17 balls to accompany Ben Stokes into the history books at Headingley. In the first innings at The Oval, he held up his end while helping Jos Buttler to add 68 and lift England from trouble again.

Then there is the endearing routine of cleaning his glasses between deliveries. In part it is Leach's everyman appearance that chimes with the watching public - though the sight of fans at Old Trafford mimicking his bald pate and glasses prompted Kevin Pietersen to wonder in a column for a betting site whether Leach was becoming a "laughing stock".

On the final day of the series at The Oval, Leach made sure the talk would be about his bowling at last. He made key incisions to remove Marnus Labuschagne and Tim Paine before taking the last two wickets to fall for figures of 4 for 49 - his best in home Tests - in the process sharing all ten with Stuart Broad and his captain, Joe Root.

"Today I just wanted to be patient and felt if I did my job well then the wickets would come," he said. "I needed to put the ball in the right area and be patient. I got my rewards at the end, with some good catching from Rooty. Broady set the tone amazingly well earlier on, it was a real team effort. The Aussies fought hard but we did enough.

"It was nice to get some wickets on the last day. The support for me has been something I didn't think I'd ever experience. Maybe it's because of my batting, but I think it's mainly because I'm bald and have got glasses. The way the public have warmed to me is something very special and I don't take for granted. I can't thank them enough."

England were well on their way to drawing the series on Saturday evening, when Leach was warmly serenaded by the Oval crowd. Looking back, he was happy enough to acknowledge the moment of fortune at Headingley that saw Nathan Lyon drop the ball with a decisive run-out opportunity begging.

"Yesterday, when I was batting at the end, over there they were singing 'Stand up if you love Jack Leach', and then they started over there as well. I just thought 'What is going on?' Nathan Lyon came over and said to me 'How many beers do you owe me [for the run out]?' I think I owe him a lot. Sport is fickle and I guess you have to enjoy the good moments and not get too down about the bad moments. I have had some luck as well. Hopefully you earn that luck through hard work, I will continue working hard."

Leach has been a hit on social media, as well as in the stands, with a video of his re-enactment of the single he scored at Headingley receiving more than 5000 likes on Twitter. After Australia had retained the urn by winning the next Test, at Old Trafford, there were suggestions that Steven Smith had donned a pair of glasses in mock tribute - though it was later clarified to be a joke at the expense of bespectacled former Australia opener Chris Rogers.

"Smith came to me to let me know that it wasn't about me," Leach said. "I didn't know whether it was or wasn't. I was kind of hoping it was, and thought it was a good laugh. I was very embarrassed after Headingley when the video came out of me doing my one. I think I deserved that to be honest! That's why we got a picture together after the game with him wearing my glasses!"

Having made a low-key debut in Christchurch in March 2018, then missing out on the following Test summer through injury, it feels as though Leach has taken 18 months to become an overnight success. However, he does not intend to bask in his new status, and could well find himself involved in a momentous achievement of a different kind over the coming days, with Somerset closing in on the first-ever Championship title in their history.

"Somerset-Essex next week, I don't know if I'll play yet. I've been part of that Somerset season as well so I don't know. During this series it's been pretty mentally and physically tiring. But I probably haven't bowled too many overs, not a silly amount. It will be good to go back and try to win the Championship with Somerset because we've never won that."

FRISCO, Texas -- Inactive for the first two games, Dallas Cowboys defensive end Taco Charlton took to social media Monday with a plea to the team: Free me.

After tweeting that message, the post was deleted, but he did follow up with this:

Trust me the last thing I want to do is to have to go to social media to get what I want so I can play football again.

— Taco Charlton (@TheSupremeTaco) September 16, 2019

The Cowboys have had trade discussions for Charlton, a first-round pick in 2017, but nothing that has gotten close to fruition, according to a source. Charlton is guaranteed his $1.376 million base salary this season and $458,000 of his base salary next season.

"We are not getting into that at all in any way," owner and general manager Jerry Jones said after Sunday's win against the Washington Redskins. "I know there is some discussion. We don't get into that."

The Cowboys welcomed back defensive end Robert Quinn from a two-game suspension for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy on Monday. They will have an exemption for Quinn through Wednesday but then would have to make a spot for him on the 53-man roster.

Charlton could be among the candidates to be moved; however, the Cowboys are not sure of the availability of defensive end Tyrone Crawford, who aggravated a hip injury against Washington, or defensive tackle Antwaun Woods.

The 28th overall pick in 2017, Charlton has four sacks in 22 games (seven starts) but has not found a consistent role in the rotation used by defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli. He missed three games last year because of a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery, and he also had ankle surgery.

After a slow start to camp, he had two sacks in the preseason.

Going back to the 2017 regular season, he has been a healthy scratch in four of the last six games.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants coach Pat Shurmur was noncommittal Monday about Eli Manning being his starting quarterback this week on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The other option would be turning to No. 6 overall pick Daniel Jones.

A final decision is expected by Wednesday.

Manning has started both Giants losses this season. He's thrown two touchdown passes and has three turnovers while failing to help produce more than 20 points in either contest.

"He's been our starter to this point, and I don't want to talk about anything else moving forward from that standpoint," Shurmur said of his starting quarterback decision this week. "I'm not ready to discuss that."

When told that by unequivocally failing to name Manning the starter for this week, it would leave the topic of Manning vs. Jones open for debate, Shurmur said, "I understand that. I do."

The health of the Giants' wide receivers is expected to factor into the decision. Golden Tate has two games remaining on his suspension while Sterling Shepard and Cody Latimer remain in the concussion protocol. Those were the Giants' top three receivers entering this season.

There is optimism that Shepard returns this week. Latimer is more in doubt. The Giants are likely to be reluctant to throw Jones into action with a severely limited group of receivers at his disposal.

The clock has been ticking ever since the Giants made Jones their top pick out of Duke earlier this year. At that point, he became their quarterback of the future while Manning, 38, turned into a lame duck on the final year of his contract.

The Giants told the two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback right before making the pick that it would be his job as long as he was winning games. That hasn't happened so far. The Giants are 0-2 for the sixth time in seven seasons and haven't been competitive the first two weeks, in part because of a defense that has struggled mightily.

"Hey, we're 0-2 and looking for answers," Manning said. "I get it when you draft a guy early and not winning games, things are going to come up. So I just need to keep working and do whatever my job is."

Manning said the status of his starting job has not been a discussion with the team as of Monday afternoon. When asked how important it was to receive clarity, he claimed it wasn't important. Eventually, midway through a press conference in front of Manning's locker on Monday he requested to "stay away from the 'ifs.'"

Manning has been the Giants' starter for the better part of 16 seasons. He holds just about every franchise passing record and is considered by most the best quarterback in franchise history. That makes this potential move tricky, especially consider it didn't go smoothly during the 2017 season when ex-coach Ben McAdoo ended his consecutive games streak at 210 in favor of Geno Smith.

But Jones' strong spring and summer only closed the gap between the two. He completed 85.3 percent of his passes this preseason while throwing for 416 yards with a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions. He came into the regular season opener late against the Cowboys. His only drive ended in a lost fumble.

The rookie quarterback has only receiving normal backup quarterback snaps (in the 10 percent range) during practice since the start of the regular season.

Jones wasn't available for comment on Monday but told ESPN late last week that he was looking at older game film of that week's opponent to assist Manning in his preparation. He was also splitting scout team reps with Alex Tanney.

The Giants have been trying to balance winning now with turning to the future ever since Jones came on board. It's a topic they discuss on a regular basis behind the scenes.

"We're always trying to do what we can to win this next game. And then we're always behind the scenes having those long-term discussions," Shurmur said. "I think that is the challenge each week is doing what you can to win each game. That's really my focus as the coach and certainly that is what the players' focus is."

The Giants are getting set to face a Buccaneers (1-1) team that has played well defensively early this season under new coordinator Todd Bowles. It could end up being with Jones as the starter.

A crowd of more than 15,000 people watched Wales' first training session in Japan for the Rugby World Cup.

Queues stretching more than a kilometre began building up three hours before the open run-out at Kitakyushu Stadium.

The local population have clearly embraced the Wales team, singing the Welsh national anthem and the hymn Calon Lân as Warren Gatland's squad undertook their first work out.

Wales' opening match in Pool D is against Georgia on 23 September.

The Welsh Rugby Union has sent several delegations to the Japanese city over the last 18 months, led by former Wales skipper Ryan Jones. They have been running coaching courses and building awareness.

Rugby World Cup organisers said the crowd of 15,300 was the largest ever at the Kitakyushu Stadium and Jones was overwhelmed: "I've never experienced anything like this in my career. It's astonishing and it's been really emotional.

"It's been like hosting a party," he said. "We got up this morning and we were saying 'oh, I hope it goes well today and people will turn up'. Then to see the queues and then to see the players' faces when they came out, it was just magic.

"It has exceeded all our expectations. But what has really warmed my heart is that it has shown how really strong the brand of Welsh rugby is. People know it's us, they love the colour red, but also how powerful rugby is.

"The dream was to turn the city red and we've done that. They weren't a host city and we wanted to bring the Rugby World Cup to them.

"It's great as the guys are one week out from our first game and to have an experience like this bring it home how amazing an event it is. It will give the players a huge lift."

Watch Eddie Butler's Rugby World Cup preview, BBC One Wales, Monday, 16 September, 20:30 BST and later on demand.

Can't see this selector? Visit this page: Pick your Wales XV to play Georgia

All pictures via Huw Evans Images.