George Bailey (cricketer, born 1982)

For other people named George Bailey, see George Bailey (disambiguation).

George Bailey

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Personal information
Full name	George John Bailey
Born	(1982-09-07) 7 September 1982 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Nickname	Smiley, Hector, Geronimo
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm medium
Role	Batsman
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 436)	21 November 2013 v England
Last Test	3–5 January 2014 v England
ODI debut (cap 195)	16 March 2012 v West Indies
Last ODI	03 September 2015 v England
ODI shirt no.	2
T20I debut (cap 55)	1 February 2012 v India
Last T20I	23 March 2014 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2002–	Tasmania (squad no. 10)
2007–2010	Scotland
2009–2012	Chennai Super Kings
2011–2012	Melbourne Stars
2012–	Hobart Hurricanes
2013	Hampshire
2014–present	Kings XI Punjab
2015	Sussex
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20I FC Matches 5 64 28 112 Runs scored 183 2,348 470 7,030 Batting average 26.14 43.48 26.11 38.62 100s/50s 0/1 3/17 0/2 16/35 Top score 53 156 63 160* Balls bowled – – – 84 Wickets – – – 0 Bowling average – – – – 5 wickets in innings – – – 0 10 wickets in match n/a n/a n/a 0 Best bowling – – – – Catches/stumpings 10/– 31/– 9/– 104/–
Source: ESPN Cricinfo, 13 January 2016

George John Bailey (born 7 September 1982) is an Australian cricketer, who was formerly the captain of the Australian T20I team and vice-captain of the Australian ODI team . George Bailey's club cricket team is South Hobart Sandy Bay Sharks. He represents the Tasmanian cricket team in Sheffield Shield and Ryobi One-Day Cup matches, and also plays Twenty20 cricket for the Kings XI Punjab, previously used to play for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League and the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League. He also led Kings XI Punjab in the 2014 and 2015 IPL Seasons.

Bailey was appointed as Twenty20 captain of the Australian national cricket team in 2012, succeeding Cameron White prior to the two match series against India that ended 1–1. He became the second ever Australian to captain an international game without having played an international game before, after Dave Gregory in the first ever Test match. On 1 May 2013, Bailey was appointed the vice-captain of the Australian ODI team for the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.

He captained the Australian team in India in ODI in the absence of Michael Clarke.

In November 2013, Bailey was named in the Australian team for the 2013–14 Ashes series against England. He played all five matches of the series, but was subsequently dropped from the Test team.

Domestic career

File:George Bailey 2008.jpg

Bailey playing with Tasmania in 2008.

A destructive striker who can change a match within a few overs, Bailey arrived as a state one-day player at the age of 19 after playing his junior cricket with the South Launceston Cricket Club. Bailey was first selected to play for Tasmania 2005/06, due to injuries to regular players, and he was given an extended stint in the first-class team, scoring 778 Pura Cup runs, including three centuries, and earning a second invitation to the Academy.

Talk of the state leadership and possible national team representation began that summer, after he scored a highest score was 155 against South Australia, an innings that formed part of a state-record fourth-wicket partnership of 292 with Travis Birt.

Another highlight came shortly before the 2006/07 season, when he bludgeoned 136 from 65 balls for the Academy against a Zimbabwe Board XI. Bailey is a former national under-19 player and the great-great-grandson of George Herbert Bailey, who was part of the 1878 touring squad to England.

Further prominent performances in the coming seasons saw Bailey play for Australia against the All Star team in the All Star Twenty20 match in 2009. Bailey was appointed as the permanent captain of Tasmania for the 2009/10 season, replacing Daniel Marsh.

In February 2011, Bailey led Tasmania to a five wicket Sheffield Shield win over Victoria where he scored an unbeaten 160. Needing 130 in the final session, he and James Faulkner pushed the Tigers past the total in the 91st over of play on the final day to lift Tasmania to second on the table behind New South Wales.

He captained Tasmania to its second Sheffield Shield title against New South Wales at Bellerive Oval in 2010/11.

In the 2011/12 Ryobi Cup final in Adelaide, Bailey showed he is made of stern stuff; he scored 101 and was out in the last over. But although Tasmania tied with South Australia, they lost the title because South Australia finished top of the ladder that season.

In 2012, he was signed by the Melbourne Stars for the first season of the Big Bash League. Bailey scored 114 runs at an average of 19 for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.

International career

George Bailey's record as captain
	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn	Tied	No result	Win %
ODI	29	16	10	0	0	3	55.17%
Twenty20	28	14	13	0	1	–	50%
Date last Updated:		2 September 2015

In early 2010, Bailey was called up for the ODIs in New Zealand when Michael Clarke returned home for personal reasons – but did not win a cap. He subsequently had to wait until 2012 to make his international debut. When he did, he did so as captain of the Australian national Twenty20 team, succeeding Cameron White prior to the two match series against India, which ended 1–1. He became the second ever Australian to captain an international game, without having played an international game before, after Dave Gregory in the first ever Test match.

File:GEORGE BAILEY (11704473055).jpg

Bailey with Australia in 2014

When he walked out as leader for the T20 at Sydney's Stadium Australia and the match at the MCG, Bailey was in charge of a new-look side. The fast-bowling allrounder James Faulkner was on his debut, the batsman Travis Birt had earned a recall nearly two years after his last international appearance and Brad Hogg had returned after retiring in 2008.

There had been criticism over his appointment. Bailey's highest score in the shortest format at the time of his appointment had been 60 and he had made only one T20 half-century in the previous three seasons, but he said batting at No.5 opportunities were often limited. He led Australia to victory in his first game. He presided over a 31-run defeat of India in his first match promoting Matthew Wade to the opener's post where he scored 72 .

In second match of the series Australia lost the match and series was levelled. He made some hasty decisions such as sending Matthew Wade at No. 6 given the fact that in the first match he had opened and made 72. He still contributed with 32 and his opening replacement Aaron Finch top-scored with 36, but Shaun Marsh at first drop failed to score and the batting was weakened with the allrounders Daniel Christian and James Faulkner left out.

He was named in ODI the squad for the West Indies tour. As a result of an injury to Australian captain Michael Clarke, he was included in the first ODI of the series and Bailey top scored with 48 runs in Australia's 204 for 8. He was third highest run scorer in the series with 172 runs behind Kieron Pollard and Michael Hussey. He also scored his first half-century.

During a T20 series against West Indes, he scored 45 runs in two matches. Like the India series, the West Indies series was ended in tie. Australia won the first match by 8 wickets but lost the second match by 14 runs.

At the start of the Ireland and England tour it was decided that Bailey would not receive a central contract for the 2012/13 season, despite being captain of the national T20I team.

In the fifth ODI Bailey produced some excellent cricket, rounding off his efforts with a 46 from 41 balls to ensuring that Australia posted a troubling total for England.

He was named as the ODI captain of the team in absence of the captain Michael Clarke and vice-captain Shane Watson. He led three ODIs in the five match series, winning two and losing one. He made an impressive 89 during the win at the MCG to give a good first impression as captain.

Bailey scored his maiden ODI century in a match against the West Indies. Australia had been in a difficult situation at 56/4 when Bailey came in but his 125 not out from 110 balls took Australia to a challenging total of 266.

During an ODI series against India Bailey scored a total of 474 runs, setting a record for the most runs by any batsman in a bilateral series. With one match remaining, he had broken the previous record of 467 set by Zimbabwe's Hamilton Masakadza in a five-match series against Kenya in 2009. In the sixth match of the series, Bailey posted an innings of 156, and in doing so went past 1,500 ODI runs in only his 32nd innings. Only Hashim Amla has done it faster in 30 innings. Bailey became only the ninth Australian to score 1000 or more ODI runs in a calendar year.

In November 2013, Bailey became Australia's 436th Test cap in the Ashes and was presented with the baggy green before the start of play by a former captain Mark Taylor. In December 2013, Bailey hit 28 runs off an over from James Anderson in the Third Ashes Test at WACA Ground equalling Brian Lara's record for the most runs off an over in Test cricket.

On 7 September 2014, George Bailey resigned as the captain of the Australian T20I team in order to focus solely on the ODI World Cup

Channel Nine controversy

During the 2012–13 summer, George Bailey led a one-day Australian team lacking draw-cards Dave Warner and Shane Watson. This led to criticism from Channel Nine, who broadcast the game. Bailey defended the side at a press conference, saying Channel Nine were motivated in part by a desire to talk down the game and thus pay a cheaper price for the TV rights:

I can probably understand it coming from Channel Nine. I think they're about to go into negotiations for the TV rights. I think that was a pretty tactical move to try to talk down one-day cricket and what the Australian team's putting out. But it's still called the Australian cricket team.

Channel Nine's executive director of cricket, and former NSW player Brad McNamara, angrily denied this:

Nowhere has Channel Nine ever talked the one-day game down, nowhere have we ever said this is a 'B team'. It's rubbish and George should stick to playing cricket and leave (television) rights to the people who know what they're talking about. I reckon he's got his hands full as it is. He needs to concentrate on staying in the side. And he needs to understand where his money's coming from. Without the TV rights deal, George is probably working in a coalmine or flipping burgers at McDonald's.

Cricket writer Jarrod Kimber later argued that this caused a permanent schism between Bailey and Channel Nine. He says it was brought to a head during the 2013–14 Ashes test in Sydney, when Bailey failed to make a fifty in two attempts:

It seemed that no one in the Channel Nine box could make a comment about him that wasn't negative. His feet, hands, technique and temperament were questioned. His second-innings 46 was not enough. And they weren't always wrong. It just seemed kind of mean. Especially when at the back of the press box some seemed happy when he was out. But it went deeper than McNamara's comments. Bailey had made mistakes in his career. He hadn't made enough first-class runs. He hadn't come into the team as a young man. He came into the captaincy without playing a game. He came into the Test team because of one-day runs. He was everything old-school cricket didn't like. A thinking cricketer who had never demanded inclusion, but who had been included regardless. For old-school types like Ian Chappell, he was pretty much everything he didn't like. And Chappell wasn't just turning on Bailey because of his stoush with Channel Nine. He had not liked Bailey for a long time.

International centuries

One Day International centuries

George Bailey's One Day International centuries
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	125*	20	West Indies	Perth, Australia	WACA Ground	2013	Won
2	156	34	India	Nagpur, India	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium	2013	Lost
3	112	64	India	Perth, Australia	WACA Ground	2016	Won

Awards

ODI Awards

ODI Man of the Match

S No	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	West Indies	Arnos Vale Stadium, Kingstown	16 March 2012	47 (67 balls: 5x4); DNB, 3 catches	Australia won by 64 runs.
2	West Indies	WACA, Perth	3 February 2013	125* (110 balls: 10x4, 4x6); DNB, 1 run out	Australia won by 54 runs.
3	India	Maharashtra Cricket Stadium, Pune	13 October 2013	85 (82 balls: 10x4); DNB, 1 catch	Australia won by 72 runs.

Twenty20 International Awards

Man of the Match Awards

#	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	Australia vs England in Australia	2013/14	49* (20 balls: 4x4, 3x6); DNB	Australia won by 84 runs.

External links

• Player profile: George Bailey from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: George Bailey from CricketArchive

Preceded by Daniel Marsh	Tasmanian First-Class cricket captains 2009/10 – Current	Succeeded by Current
Preceded by Daniel Marsh	Tasmanian One-Day cricket captains 2009/10 – Current	Succeeded by Current
Preceded by Cameron White	Australian national cricket captain (T20I) 2012–2014	Succeeded by Aaron Finch