The Ashes 2019: England hope left-arm spin is chink in armour of Steve Smith at Lord’s

England have taken note of Steve Smith’s apparent struggles against left-arm spin in South Africa last year by deploying Jack Leach for the Lord’s Test - but the Aussies are hardly worried.

Is Jack Leach the secret weapon the Poms have been searching for?

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Aussie captain Tim Paine believes England are in for some disappointment if they think left-arm spinner Jack Leach is the answer to ending the Ashes domination of Steve Smith.

The home team blinked first going in to the second Test at Lord’s dropping Edgbaston flop Moeen Ali and recalling 28-year-old Leach who didn’t take a wicket in his last outing against Ireland, which was just his fifth Test.

Finding a chink in Smith’s armour after his two hundreds in Birmingham has become England’s most important piece of preparation work before the second Test starts on Wednesday.

Is Jack Leach the secret weapon the Poms have been searching for?

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They seem to have settled on left-arm spin, with an analysis of Smith’s 119-Test innings determining that he averages the least against that type of bowling.

Smith, who has a career average of 63, second only to Sir Donald Bradman for players with more than 30 Tests, only averages 34.9 against left-arm orthodox bowlers.

In his last Test series, in South Africa last year, he was dismissed three out of four times by left-arm tweakers, twice by Keshav Maharaj and once to part-timer Dean Elgar.

A CricViz deep dive concluded that for whatever reason, “there is something about the angle which disturbs Smith.”

When he reflected on that time, however, Smith said he was “fried” after a massive home summer, which included scoring 687 runs in a 4-0 Ashes win, as captain.

Keshav Maharaj gets the wicket of Steve Smith in Port Elizabeth last year.

And Paine, when asked whether England would have to throw out the pre-season “dossier” their bowlers were given on Smith, said he was such a batting genius it wouldn’t matter what they threw at him.

That includes Leach, and fast bowler Jofra Archer who will make his debut at Lord’s.

“Steve Smith averages over 60 in Test cricket, so I think the beauty of Steve is you can come up with a plan but he’s good enough to adapt really quickly,” Paine said.

“I’ve seen him do it between balls, I’ve seen him do it when guys have targeted him from one end a certain way and a completely different way from the other end.

“I think that’s what makes him the best player in the world, his ability to adapt to any plan that is thrown at him. I think he processes it quicker than other players and adapts on the spot.”

Steve Smith has opened the Ashes in blistering form.

Australia coach Justin Langer also called Smith the “greatest problem solver” in world cricket.

Test legend Steve Waugh, with the team as a mentor, said the 30-year-old was like a “robot” and a “genius” after Edgbaston.

Leach was whacked around Lord’s by the Irish batsmen in the one-off Test last month, going for eight runs an over. He hasn’t played a match since.

But he did take 5-109 in the second innings of a match against Australia A while playing for the England Lions earlier in July.

He went wicket-less in the first innings, but then dismissed batsmen including Marcus Harris and Paine in the second dig.

If anything Jack Leach will certainly bolster England’s batting.

Having bowled thousands of balls himself at Smith as both NSW and Australian teammates, fast bowler Mitchell Starc said he had no sympathy for his English bowling brothers who looked beaten at Birmingham.

“Not a bit,” he said.

“I’m glad he’s on our team.”