Leach, who was controversially picked ahead of Stuart Broad by the visitors, finished with dreadful figures of 1/102 from just 13 overs in the first innings. His only wicket came in the form of Marnus Labuschagne, who got himself out for 74 while trying to play a cut shot towards the backward point region.
Ahead of the start of play on Day 3, Langer cited one of the huge advantages they have over England is the presence of a ‘world class’ spinner in the form of Nathan Lyon.
“One of the things where we have a massive competitive advantage is we have a world-class spinner,” said Langer while talking to host broadcaster Channel Seven.
Langer reckoned Leach and Dom Bess are still quite young in Test cricket, and their strategy was to go against Leech in order to put England under pressure as they know the importance of having a quality spinner in Australia.
“Jack Leach and Dom Bess, they’re still quite young spinners. We want to put them under pressure. And then get England thinking about what their selection strategy is going to be. We know how important a spinner is in Australia,” added Langer.
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Leech’s selection has raised many eyebrows, and former Aussie skipper Allan Border also questioned the tourists’ decision to pick the left-armer in seam friendly conditions at The Gabba. Border praised Australia’s tactics to target Leach in a bid to put pressure on England’s pace attack.
“Obviously, the Australians had talked about the England bowling generally and who to watch and be careful with. Obviously, they decided Jack Leach on this sort of surface, they are going to really attack him. The field was up, and they were prepared to go and hit over the top. They really were aggressive against Leach. Then it put the pressure back on the England bowling. It was fantastic tactics from the Australians. They really put a lot of pressure on the England spinner,” Border told Fox Cricket.
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