George Bailey will be a Test failure

What a load of rubbish. "Test failure" without even going out to bat lol... Wow. Talk about giving a guy a chance and the attitude of "get in there mate, come on son!". I hope for one that Bailey gets in and slogs a century in spite of the tone of this article. He deserves every chance now that he has forced his way in. ODI cricket has ALWAYS been a gateway into the Australian team, nothing has changed. Good on him, hope he gets picked.

But he has leadership. He instils confidence in the players around him and is always team first. Bailey's record as captain for Tasmania must not go ignored, it's brilliant and not only does he have said leadership but he also is tactically astute. Think about it, Clarke is a very good tactician but is a pretty average leader and almost as much a divisive player as Shan Watson is. We need Bailey. If he fails we can revert back to Hughes and khawaja he would've likely failed anyway. We don't lose anything in selecting him, but the rewards if he succeeds are enormous. Just look at how united our ODI team seem under Bailey's leadership. Technically, Bailey is very underrated by your standards. You must have missed the fact that he averaged 53 the Shield season before when Bellerive was at it's worst as a green monster (last season it played low and slow). You also must have missed some of bailey's rearguard innings in ODI's which showed his calmness under pressure, temperament and ability. His innings against WI in Perth when he scored 130 was one of the greatest ODI innings I've seen in tough batting conditions. Also, you can't discount the fact that Bailey has a worse List A record than he does FC record. This despite his ODI average of 56. An ODI average of 56, against better bowlers, in foreign conditions and under more pressure compared to his 36 List A average. What does that tell you? He rises to the international occasion. Get him in, we have nothing to lose.

I reckon he's a bit Michael Bevan. Probably deserves a run, given his form in ODIs. He has shown he can handle the international arena. But Can he carry his game over?

Normally I'd agree you shouldn't pick someone with a first-class average under 40, but frankly it's not that bad given the current options. And given his current form, albeit not in the longer form of the game, he might well do better than that.

I seriously hope that he gets selected and makes a big one, then all the detractors can eat a little humble pie.

How would anyone know what kind of a test batsmen he would be. He hasn't played a test !

Maybe you need to look at Tasmani;s scores overall. The Bellerive effect is greatly oertstated. It was a bit of a greentop before Christmas, but even then hardly the duckmaker that people seem to go on about. Tasmania's bowling, other than spin, is genuinely good by current state cricket standards and the batting is genuinely not so good - although Cosgrove and Doolan still scored runs, including at Bellerive.

But would you select Bevan if it was a choice between him and the current lot, Hookin? Right now, I would in a heartbeat. But if it was the 90s and a choice between him and say Darren Lehmann, I wouldn't. Because as you say, Bevan wasn't much of a Test batsman. Selection decisions are always relative to the talent you've got. You don't have a choice of not selecting anyone. If all you've got to pick from are donkeys, you're going to end up with a donkey no matter what. You just want to make sure its the least rubbish one....

You'd have a point if we were discussing Finch or Maxwell. But what's impressed about Bailey is he isn't just going out there and clubbing it. He's consistently playing smart well-paced innings when wickets are falling around him. The kind of innings you wouldn't see Maxwell, Finch or even Warner play in a million years. To make such an all-encompassing, blanket statement as ODI performances mean nothing in terms of Test ability, is just as naive as believing they always mean something. The truth is it depends on how the runs are made and the situations they are made in. Over the last year or so Bailey's shown every sign that he's not a one-day bosher, but an incredibly smart cricketer with a head for the international game. Given how threadbare Australia's Test batting stocks are, its not outlandish to then suggest Bailey might add some starch to the Ashes middle order. Certainly nowhere near as bizarre as the constant calls on here for Joe Burns to be selected. Apparently noone's noticed that he's not only done nothing for well over a year and a half, but he currently can't even make the Queensland team. Even if he was out there blazing tons, how well do you think a 23 year old with zero international experience would handle being thrown straight into an Ashes series??? There's even calls to pick one kid or another who has less than a handful of first class appearances. Unless its the 1990s and their name is Sachin, you're deluding themselves. I mean seriously, stop scrabbling around for a miracle and a hero, the batting cupboards bare. The best we can really do for now is try find someone with smarts and heart who won't fold like a deckchair when the pressure's on. I know who my money's on...

Can't recommend this comment highly enough Mitcher. Nail head squarely hit.

How about another bloke from tassie, 8,000+ first class runs at 43.3, 22 centuries and only 29. Mark Cosgrove. Better numbers than all of these others that keep getting thrown up outside of hughes, and his technique is superb.. He's dropped the weight, if he makes runs this year he has to be considered.

True, but he's being regarded as a contender by some people writing on sites like this. Is the really any suggestion from the selectors that he is? I think the selectors really went out of their way to pick a side for this Indian tour that while strong enough to be competitive in the series, was quite distinctly picked full of short form specialists with very few players likely to be considered for the Ashes taking part. Meanwhile, guys like Smith, Warner, Khawaja and the other youngsters who've shown they might have a shot at the longer forms of the game they kept back in Australia. I think there was definite purpose in this. The people they are keeping an eye on are mostly not in India. If someone does really well over there and then comes back and has a blinder in their only Shield game before the first test then they might throw their name into the ring, but I don't get the feeling the selectors are viewing these ODI results the way many commentators on these sorts of sites are.

I completely disagree Frankie, because of the player in question. Bailey has shown over the last few years that he's able to be in rare form in One Day cricket simultaneously with having one of his worst seasons ever in the Sheffield Shield. If "Form is Form" then that would not happen, he would have taken that rare form he's been in and last year piled on the Shield runs, but he didn't. I agree that it can be the case. For some players, form is form. Some players can be out of form across all forms of the game, play some one day matches and use them to find form, and then that form carries across all formats. I believe Warner is such a player and will likely take the form he's found in the Ryobi Cup into the Shield and score some big runs leading into the first test. Bailey has PROVEN that he isn't that sort of player, but can be in rare form in ODI's simultaneously while sucking in the longer form. As such, he is one player who absolutely has to show red ball form before being considered.

To me it depends on the player how much credence I give to ODI performances. You get some players who have shown they can score runs in all forms of the game, and that they are either in form or out of form and that affects all formats equally, so when they find form they then carry that into whatever format they play. David Warner is a bit like this. He's found some form in the Ryobi cup, and I really expect him to then carry that into the first couple of shield matches and score lots of runs and be in good form come the first test. But Bailey has shown he's not like that. At the same time as he's been picked for Australia in T20 and ODIs and done extremely well, his Shield form has got worse. So he's showing his best ever form in ODI's then going back to Sheffield Shield and showing some of the worst form of his career. This is a strong indication that for this particular player you can't infer anything regarding potential test performances from his one day cricket. Some players you can, but clearly you can't with Bailey. He has one shield game before the first test. If he can come out in that and make a big hundred (and if he bats more than once, make sure he doesn't fail in the other innings but gets a decent score at least) then he could put himself in the frame for selection. But he HAS to score big in that game against a strong attack or he can remain pigeonholed as a T20 / 50-over player as he currently is.

Bellerieve hasn't always been a bowlers pitch. Through much of his career it's been a good batting pitch. Was definitely a bowlers pitch last year, and he averaged about 17, so even if understated, it's pretty bad.

He hasn't been selected for test cricket on the back of ODI performances yet. If he is, then I would be able to agree with you, but the fact that he's performing well in one day matches makes it clear that he was a good selection to play one day cricket for Australia. Watson is about the only batsman in the current ODI squad in England who isn't really just a pure short form specialist. I actually think the selectors know that guys like Bailey, Vogues, Finch, Marsh, Wade aren't test material based on all their recent 1st Class form, and therefore picked a team that was reasonably strong for the ODI series while allowing those they really are looking at for the Ashes to be back in Australia playing first in the Ryobi cup, and then getting both Shield matches that are played before the first test team is picked.

Bailey definitely needs to be in the team. If your talking about doctored pitches then why dont you talk about the pitches the state grounds have been playing on. Last year hobart was nothing but a green top the entire year and almost every team failed. Bowlers like faulkner and bird have massively inflated bowling averages and the batsmen have suffered. If you look back a couple of years when the pitches were decent bailey averaged around 50.

Hughes and cows have bigger issues with spin, I like the intend UTK. Is showing with using his feet to spin

Khawaja will be a star n our home ashes where his ability to play pace well will be key

Khawaja only had 3 games, early Ryobi and shield form will see him make a comeback