'Freak' Smith unveils exciting new weapon

Everyone knows the story of Steve Smith’s drastic evolution from the leg-spinning allrounder to the best batsman in the world, and the freakishly-talented cricketer has now added yet another string to his bow.

Off spin.

After taking his first ODI wicket in almost five years on Saturday, Smith then flummoxed New Zealand's Jimmy Neesham when he unveiled a new skill he's been quietly been honing at training during Australia's World Cup campaign.

Smith had been brought into the attack specifically to bowl leg-spin to the right-handed Colin de Grandhomme and dismissed him with his very first delivery, a tactical manoeuvre dreamt up by coach Justin Langer but later laughed off by assistant Ricky Ponting as the "biggest fluke of all-time".

With de Grandhomme on his way, Smith had done his job and was to be taken out of the attack at the end of the over, but he still had five balls to bowl to left-handers Neesham and Tom Latham.

Given his leg-breaks would turn into the two left-handers, who would have been hitting towards the short leg-side boundary at Lord’s, Smith decided to switch to bowling the finger spin he's intermittently been practicing at training in recent weeks.

"It caught me off guard," teammate Glenn Maxwell said this week, who previously held the role of the side's sole off-spinning allrounder.

"I was at cover and (Smith) goes, 'I think I am going to bowl offies,' and I said, 'really?' He goes, 'yeah.' He said, 'geez, I am nervous about this.'"

"It was just a short boundary to a left-hander. If he'd tried to bowl leggies they probably would have taken him on. It certainly caught them off guard as well.

"I saw the look in Jimmy Neesham's face and he was like, 'what was that?'"

Asked why or how Smith had made the switch, Maxwell added: "Certainly him being a freakish talent, and probably (being) a little bit different as well.

"He is a freak. Even today at training, he was just changing (between off-spin and leg-spin) ball to ball and still being able to land them. He's extremely skillful.

"And he's been doing the job with the bat as well."

A younger Smith became an increasingly reluctant bowler as the magnitude of his feats with the bat grew, and then utilised his own bowling even less when he took over the national captaincy.

After bowling in all but one of the first 20 ODIs of his career in 2011-12, he didn't bowl a single over in one-dayers for a two-year stretch between February 2016 and his 12-month ban from international cricket beginning last year.

Stripped of the leadership, his time away from the Australian side has helped to rekindle his dwindling bowling career, with Smith even recently changing his run-up to mimic legendary Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi.

"I've changed a few things – I'm trying to base my action off Shahid Afridi actually, and try and bowl quite fast and into the wicket," Smith said last year.

"As I'm getting a bit older I can't walk in anymore and bowl as fast as I need to, so I've got a bit more momentum through my run-up so I can get the ball down a bit quicker."

While there were a few full tosses mixed into his otherwise tidy two-over spell of 1-6 against the Kiwis, Maxwell believes Smith can continue to be a genuine option as Australia move into the business end of the World Cup.

"I thought he bowled really well," he said. "You are putting pressure on both edges of the bat by changing it as well, from off spin to leg spin.

"Leg spin is a pretty hard thing, especially when you only practice it half the time. It just shows what a talent he is."

2019 World Cup

Australia's squad: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

June 1: Australia beat Afghanistan by seven wickets

June 6: Australia beat West Indies by 15 runs

June 9: Australia lost to India by 36 runs

June 12: Australia beat Pakistan by 41 runs

June 15: Australia beat Sri Lanka by 87 runs

June 20: Australia beat Bangladesh by 48 runs

June 25: Australia beat England by 64 runs

June 29: Australia beat New Zealand by 86 runs

July 6: Australia v South Africa, Old Trafford (D/N)

July 9: Semi-Final 1, Old Trafford

July 11: Semi-Final 2, Edgbaston

July 14: Final, Lord's

Sync Australia's World Cup schedule to your calendar HERE

For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE