George Bailey: The quiet achiever from Australia

Slowly but steadily, Bailey has made his detractors eat humble pie. In the 22 One-day internationals he has played for Australia, Bailey has chalked up impressive numbers, as he averages 45.5 with a respectable strike rate of 83.74. His scintillating knock of 125 laced with 10 boundaries and four sixes against West Indies at WACA this year, showed us he has those power-packed shots up his sleeve too.

Even in the just concluded drab encounter in the Champions trophy against their traditional rivals England, it was only Bailey who stood tall among the ruins. Bailey, with his impeccable shot selection and controlled approach, played a valiant knock in a losing cause. Apart from him, none of the hapless Australian batsmen could decipher the modus operandi of Anderson’s controlled mastery of reverse swing/contrast swing.

Yet, after the loss against England, there is a feeling in cricketing circles that Bailey doesn’t deserve a place in the present Australian side. Here is a cricketer on whom acres of print overflowing with superlative adjectives would never be written. But that doesn’t seem to bother Bailey one bit, as he quietly goes about his job of scoring runs for his country.

Actually, it is surprising that Bailey hasn’t found a place in the Ashes squad to play against England. If Australia want to upset the apple-cart and beat England in their own patch, they need the calm head of Bailey to shore up a batting line-up that seems more like a rudderless ship. It isn’t right to expect the injury plagued captain, Clarke, to perform like a super human, and make mountains of runs. After all, cricket is a team game, and Clarke alone can’t win matches for Australia.

For the time being, as the stand-in skipper of Australia in the Champions trophy, Bailey has a task on his hands. In the match against England, the Australian team was a pale shadow of its former self, as they put up an enervated performance. But never write off Australia, as there is every chance that under the able stewardship of the quiet and unassuming Bailey, they may surprise a few cricket pundits. He has already done that in domestic cricket for Tasmania, and when he steered an unfancied Australian side to the semifinals in the 2012 World T20. It has to be said though, to exhort a bunch of dispirited cricketers and lead them to victory in Champions trophy will be an enormous task for even Bailey.

Bailey isn’t another Ricky Ponting to play with his famed swagger and become a courageous conquistador. He lacks the flair and flamboyance of Clarke. But make no mistake, Bailey knows his game inside-out, and has the temperament to deliver the goods for Australia.