But the 33-year-old is determined to finish in style and says his main focus is on returning from a knee injury and playing a full part in Worcestershire’s fight to stay up in Division One of the County Championship.
Leach, who was Club Captain from 2017 to 2021, has so far taken 456 first class wickets for the County and finished as leading wicket-taker for six seasons.
He successfully reinvented himself as Worcestershire’s go-to bowler after primarily breaking into the side in the early 2010s as a top six batter.
Leach, who is in his Testimonial Year with Worcestershire, was part of three successful Championship promotion campaigns in 2014, 2017 – his first as captain – and last summer.
He said: “Like all these things, there are a lot of factors that come into it. I’ve heard that cliché a lot ‘when you are ready, you know you are ready’ and that has kind of dawned on me this season.
“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 of that, I’m just ready really. There is a multitude of reasons that feed into it and I just know – and that is the only thing I can say, I guess.
“I think 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.”
Leach says retaining Division One status in the Championship would be the perfect way to sign off.
He said: “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.
“I’m back bowling with the plan to be, all things being equal to be ready for that Kent game in August.
“I’m desperate to make sure I’m back and ready and putting myself and the team in the best possible position to achieve what we want to at the end of the year.
“If we can stay up, it will be a great achievement. I reckon it will be the best thing we’ve done in four-day cricket since I’ve been here.”
Leach, who has a Leadership in Sports Masters, admits he will miss most the special bond he has enjoyed with the Worcestershire members, supporters and team-mates.
He said: “Worcestershire and the club, and everyone associated with it, it’s a very difficult place to walk away from.
“I will miss everything from conversations with members, the dressing room, the support you get from everyone.
“It is going to be a really hard place to leave behind for now but, at some point, it was going to happen and now is the right time for me.”
Worcestershire Head Coach, Alan Richardson, paid tribute to the contribution of Leach on and off the field at New Road.
He said: “Joe’s impact not only just the team but also the club has been so big. His journey has been one that is quite a remarkable one in how he has invented himself as a cricketer.
“He has turned out to be something very different than what he was signed to do but has probably shown how resourceful and resilient he is and what sort of character he is.
“I joined the club and it was very obvious that the legacy of the club was always left in very good hands and it gets passed on from player to player.
“I think Joe is one of those players that the impact and influence he has will be far beyond the years he is at the club, how the lads are, how they treat each other and the culture and atmosphere within the club.
“We can talk a lot about what he has done on the field but, for me, there is something that is possibly even more important is the impact people have off the field and the legacy they leave and Joe will leave a huge one in terms of that.
“He will be really missed, not just because of his exploits on the field, but the impact he has on the changing room.
“I know he is a huge sounding board and a huge help for Brett and Libbs.
“When he is on the field, he is one of the people that the players look for and look for guidance and leadership and he has that in abundance.
“He should be very proud of everything he has achieved within his career and at the club.”
