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George Bailey is the man firing with the bat in the current ODI series in India and has catapulted himself into calculations for the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.
Not only is he a smoky to bat at number six, but he’s a chance to captain the side should Michael Clarke’s back rule him out.
It is a surreal situation, as a contrasting view would have him cast as the current poster child in a long line of players that underline a major flaw in the Test team’s set up.
The cricketing fraternity in Australia find it nigh on impossible to attach context to performances in ODI and T20 cricket when looking at the Test game.
You cannot ignore Bailey’s ODI mastery, with him averaging a remarkable 51.58 in his 29 innings for Australia which includes a number of remarkable knocks
But herein lies the issue from a five-day point of view: the ones calling for him to be given a baggy green are solely focussing on those figures without ever looking at the bigger picture.
The bigger picture reveals that Bailey is indeed very impressive, but is greatly aided by the doctored pitches designed for run-scoring, the restrictions on bowlers and fields and the lack of real quality in ODI teams for a number of reasons
A more realistic figure for Bailey, with an eye on the Ashes, is his first-class average of 38.29. The Tassie skipper barely averaged 20 with the bat in the 2012/13 season.
This would tend to point to the fact that he struggles with the more traditional style of the game, meaning he might be able to be a juggernaut in pyjamas but not in the Test arena.
The sad part of this is that Australian selectors in recent times have taken an ‘all the glitters are gold’ view to selection.
This means they are most likely to reward Bailey, as they have others, for superficial performances.
Once again this will impact on the Test team’s fortunes.
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