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Can Bailey's ODI form earn him a spot on India Test tour?

11th September, 2016
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George Bailey should be given another shot. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
Expert
11th September, 2016
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We’ve been here before. In 2013 George Bailey’s blazing ODI form vaulted him into the Test team for the home series against England.

Australia humiliated the Poms 5-0. But Bailey’s time in the baggy green lasted only as long as the Ashes, in which he made 187 runs at 26.

Bailey was exposed by the England quicks, who repeatedly coaxed him into sparring at length deliveries outside off stump. That series underlined Bailey’s weakness against quality pace bowling.

Now, however, it is Bailey’s proficiency against spin which is pushing his name back before the Test selectors. The 34-year-old was the standout batsman from either side in the recent ODI series in Sri Lanka, with 270 runs at 67.

That large run haul was built on his calm and clever play against the Sri Lankan spinners. In a low-scoring series, the home tweakers often got the ball to turn and bounce wildly from parched surfaces.

Rarely, in the modern era, do limited overs international surfaces offer such assistance to spinners.

A couple of the decks in this series were more difficult for batting than the pitches on which Australia batting line-up subsided time and again in the Tests.

Bailey did something that was sorely lacking from the Australian batting in the Tests – he countered the spin by smothering it.

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When the ball was floated up, he skipped down the deck and met it on the full or half volley. At other times he went down on one knee to sweep the ball. His use of the reverse sweep was particularly clean.

This made it difficult for the Sri Lankan spinners to settle into a consistent line. It also upset the plans of the man setting the field, skipper Angelo Mathews.

Bailey’s clinical sweeping was particularly notable due to the fact that this shot was rarely executed with authority by any of the Australians in the Test series. It is an invaluable tool in Asia, both for rotating the strike and finding the boundary.

The Sri Lankan batsmen swept Australia’s spinners into submission in the Tests. The Pakistan batsmen did the same thing in 2014 as they crushed Australia 2-0 in the UAE.

If the Australian Test batsmen ignore these approaches and continue to play mostly from the crease, as they did in Sri Lanka, they will be obliterated in the four Tests in India.

Bailey’s assured handling of the home tweakers likely will have piqued the interest of the Australian selectors. With 941 runs at an average of 61, he has a phenomenal ODI record in Asia.

Bailey earned Test selection via the short forms before, could he do it again for the upcoming tour of India? It may well be possible after Australian coach Darren Lehmann suggested yesterday that limited overs form would be considered when picking the squad for India.

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Personally I would favour a younger batsman, like 25-year-old Peter Handscomb, as I wrote last week Since that piece was published, Handscomb cracked a wonderful 87 for Australia A in a very low-scoring four-day match against India A. Timing the ball superbly, Handscomb looked locked on for a sizeable ton before he was run out.

While Handscomb is the better option for India, in my mind, Bailey’s batting in the ODIs did suggest he would be a finer prospect in those conditions than the likes of Usman Khawaja or Adam Voges.

After being tied in knots by the Sri Lankan spinners in the Tests, Khawaja again looked flummoxed by slow bowling against the white ball. His return of 48 runs at 12 in the limited overs matches will not have helped his case for selection in India.

An imperious player of pace bowling, Khawaja deserves to be reinstated at first drop for the upcoming home Tests against South Africa. But he cannot possibly tour India. Even Bailey would be a superior option.

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