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There was plenty of sympathy back in England for the plight of spinner Jack Leach, who got smashed by the Australian batters on day two of the first Test.

Jack Leach has received sympathy over his Gabba mauling from English commentators who were adamant that he should not have been playing in the first place and had been handed a "hospital pass".

Leach suffered a fairly nightmarish day in Brisbane, with his 11 overs being plundered for 95 runs, and just the wicket of a perhaps over-confident Marnus Labuschagne to show for his pains.

At 8.63 runs an over, Leach's economy rate was the second worst for anyone bowling 10 overs or more in a Test innings, only beaten by the 8.85 of Pakistan's Yasir Shah against Australia in Sydney in 2017.

Yet former England spinner Phil Tufnell was among those not surprised at all that Australia's batters had earmarked the Somerset man for special treatment.

"I wasn't surprised they targeted him whatsoever," said Tufnell, who noted that while Leach is fairly experienced, coming into the match with 16 Tests and 62 wickets under his belt, he hadn't played a Test since India in March nor any game for his county since September.

"He got a little bit of the rough end of the stick - to be slung in on a green top in Brisbane," Tufnell added on BBC radio.

"He got thrown a bit of a hospital pass in my book.

"There were four left-handers in the top seven and they decided to just come out, play some shots and put him under pressure from the off.

"It would have been tricky for any finger spinner to be bowling in those conditions."

"He's England's best available spinner, but he shouldn't be playing. Stuart Broad should have been playing instead of Jack Leach."

Former England paceman Jonathan Agnew, the BBC's cricket correspondent, added: "Jack Leach was a bad selection for the pitch.

'You are five (seamers) for this game because you don't know how fit Ben Stokes is and you can bowl a seamer when you need him.

'It was utterly predictable that Australia were going to attack Leach. It was very obvious that's what was going to happen.

'I feel sorry for him - he has hardly played since India."

But Leach, who famously played his heroic one-run bit part alongside the Stokes match-winning super-show at Headingley, was being tipped to bounce back.

"He will be pretty deflated but he's a phlegmatic kind of character," said Tufnell.

England bowling coach Jon Lewis added: "Jack is a pretty resilient fella and I expect him to come back strong and show the character he has."