George Bailey. Our new hope. Our in-form batsman. He has scored close to 500 runs at 118 in the recent Indian ODI series.
Yet, there are still those calling for his non-selection when Cook and his merry men come calling.
Most notably, Ian Chappell and Shane Warne have argued that he should not be selected. Both Chappell and Warne I hold in the highest regard as two of the most articulate thinkers the game has.
But I can’t agree with them on this one. It’s the old mentality, one that is holding us back.
Averages can be misleading in cricket, as can stats.
Fawad Ahmed took 6-fer against WA in their recent Shield encounter, and his name was thrown up again to surpass Nathan Lyon, even if on a wearing wicket in the second innings, Ahmed went wicket-less trying to spin the Bushrangers to victory.
A closer look at that scorecard will reveal that he nicked out four tail enders in the first dig.
The people that are supporting the Victorian look past the fact that Lyon is our best spinner and he was NSW’s best bowler in the Ryobi Cup, bowling tidily even inside the small encompasses of North Sydney Oval.
That brings us to Bailey.
In the past, we have seen Australian cricket blessed with batting depth.
There were several men that averaged 50 in Shield cricket who couldn’t crack our Test side.
Now we see players averaging 30-35 at best.
I keep seeing critics lamenting the fact that Bailey averages 38 in Shield cricket, and only 18 last year.
Yes, granted last season wasn’t his best, but remember he was jumping from captaining Australia in T20s then back to Shield cricket for a couple of fixtures, then joining the Australian ODI side then back to Shield.
He then captained Hobart in the BBL then finished the season back with the Shield side.
It is hard to get any continuity in your game with a schedule like that.
Chapelli has said that Bailey is also restricted cover driving and against the short ball, two keys for long form cricket, and others point to him slogging spinners to get his runs in India, is a different case than trying to do the same against Graeme Swann.
But this unearths our greatest problem.
That sort of critic is well and good back when Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann and Steve Waugh were occupying the middle order.
Then you would take that advice on board and tell George thanks but no thanks.
But we don’t have that luxury anymore. We don’t have guys plundering Shield runs. There’s the odd century here and there, but gone are the 1000 runs in a season days.
It’s time to revaluate.
The fact of the matter is, you’ve got to slightly ignore overall averages now these days.
In batting because wickets are spicier and format hopping messes with their heads and bowling averages too for the same reasons.
James Faulkner averages 22 in Shield cricket with the ball, but he’s no Glenn McGrath by any stretch of the imagination.
Same goes for test hopefuls Usman Khawaja and Alex Doolan.
Guys immediately point to their respective Shield averages of 40 and 39 respectively. A closer inspection will reveal a different story.
Doolan just polished off a match winning hundred in the Shield against NSW on a slow and low wicket, while his last 12 first-class matches have produced an impressive 1064 runs at 56. He also made 161* for Australia A last summer against the touring South Africans, made against Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander no less.
Ripe for picking.
The same goes for Khawaja. People look at his last Ashes series, where he scored 114 runs at 19 in three Tests.
Not great, yes. But in the recent Ryobi Cup, he scored 426 runs at 71.
Again, ripe for picking.
And anyone who has seen Usman play knows he can seriously bat. He has everything – time, grace, all the shots, he’s just got to plunder more and more runs.
So essentially Bailey’s form in India is too good to knock back.
Yes last season and the recent use of a white ball isn’t ideal, but is there another white knight out there who deserves a spot ahead of him? No.
Bailey is in the form of his life, so give him the chance. A wise head, an articulate cricket brain, a leader, and a darn good bat.
It’s time for our mentality to change; we’ve got to take what we’ve got, without taking one glancing look at the stats and writing our future off.
ilovewarnie
Guest
Manoj, it is not a good attack, you just think it looks good, Bollinger is pedestrian (how he ever played test cricket is beyond me), Hazelwood and Sandhu are so over-rated, if they were not from NSW they would not even be mentioned.. That is why it is a rubbish competition!
Pope Paul VII
Guest
By the same token Swanny Khawaja will handle the quicks better than Bails.
SWANNY
Guest
Bailey over Khawaja simply because he adds experience. Bailey will also handle Swann much better than Khawaja. My only worry about Bailey is his terrible running between wickets. There has been two occasions where Bailey was caught short because he was to slow off the mark. Still he is a step up from Hughes and Khawaja
Manoj
Guest
You must be drunk, read the article on cricinfo which shows the amount of runs scored in the India series, batting in the India series was easier then what batsman got in the Ryobi cup even if you take the North Sydney oval, no totals of 360 were being chased in 40 overs. Lyon, Bollinger, Sandhu and Hazelwood is a very good attack on its own, I know India wouldn't mind taking a few fast bowlers from that list.
Hookin' YT
Guest
Vinay Kumar would't get a 1st grade gig
ilovewarnie
Guest
it sis exactly my point, besides lyon that attack is pop-gun. that is a soft century on a postage stamp ground.
AlanKC
Guest
UTK averaged 19.00 Rogers averaged 40.77 I like Khawaja but and I'd like to see him fulfil his potential but there's the reason he gets fingered as suspect to spin while Rogers doesn't.
Rob Barrow
Guest
Well said Chris, he will get caught out at test level
Roger
Guest
It is important to note though that Bails was batting 4 and not opening. I honestly think if Baily opened for the series (and he was actually an opener) he probably would of gone close to getting a double ton as well. As far as his SR is concerned he would of easy, its just wheather one of there bowlers would of been able to get him out. My point is though i think he would of scored even more runs had he been batting earlier in the innings not coming in in the 20th over.
Rob Barrow
Guest
Very unfair of you to say that, Khawaja got a 100 against Bollinger, Lyon, Sandhu and Hazelwood, you are telling me that's a weaker attack then the Indian fast bowlers, and under final pressure, time to give credit where its due mate, both Bailey and Khawaja did well to score with the white ball.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I've concluded over the years in my own batting that most bad umpiring decisions giving me out can still come down in large part to me playing a bad shot that gives them the opportunity to make the bad call. Uzzie has had some bad calls in the midst of scratching around the crease looking like he could get out at any point and was probably lucky to not get out a number of other times. That being said, there is a lot of luck involved in cricket. I've had my fair share of innings where I've been hitting the ball really well only to be out to some freakish catch, meanwhile the next batsman comes out and pops up a dolly and gets dropped. One batsman is given out LBW, refers it and Hawkeye shows it barely grazing leg stump and he's given out, another is given not out and the fielding team refers it, and Hawkeye shows the ball crashing into leg stump, but with the centre of the ball a millimetre past the centre of the leg stump, so they are given not out and go onto a big score. It happens all the time. Cricket can be such a cruel game.
ilovewarnie
Guest
not sure about that, seemed to play the short ball a lot better after bouncers were outlawed.
ilovewarnie
Guest
Manoj, one is playing international one day games the other is playing some fifth rate suburban competition, hardly apples for apples.
ilovewarnie
Guest
he refused to bat higher than 5? he continually ran team mates out to get red ink. he left the tail to fend for themselves to get red ink. on a couple of occasions he batted on too long so he could get himself centuries putting the result of the match in danger. he left his team-mates to fend for themselves when in trouble instead of stepping in and defending them (e.g., slater). besides the fact he was a blatant sledger yet seem to want to uphold the traditions of the game and he was a cheat.
Manoj
Guest
Fair points JGK, not sure if you saw his dismissals in Ryobi to Lyon, every time he moved his feet and got caught at long off trying to go for a six, i like the intend and movement of feet from him, having been a good player of spin when i played club cricket in India i know that's how you must play spin and he seems to be getting better at it. And as bearfax pointed out if you take his average in the last 3 innings against spin he is averaging around 50 so good signs but like any other leftie in our team more work still to be done.
Manoj
Guest
Steve Waugh was a legend, i miss his batting, what a fighter
Manoj
Guest
Good point Chris, i just think that Khawaja has been in hot form in Ryobi and got a bad lbw call last game, all credit to Doolan for scoring, it now comes down to who scores more in the Hobart game and may the best man win.
Kris Swales
Expert
Where else is he supposed to prove himself at the moment? Given the India series and Ryobi Cup are the only high level cricket being played, they've got to count for something. And roads they may be, but the Test batting line-up could barely hit the ball off the square in March when India were thrashing it to all points, so Bailey's numbers have merit.
JGK
Roar Guru
No. The terrible form I am talking about is him missing 3 near full balls from Swann in his last 3 innings for 3 ugly dismissals. Even the so called "terrible call" in the first innings in Manchester showed how clueless he was against Swann. Until he moves his feet he is going to be a walking wicket against decent finger spin.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Actually, Steve Waugh played short bowling very well, but he put away the pull shot and hook shot for most of his career as he considered it too much of a risky shot and would prefer to just stand and defend against short balls. Fast bowlers saw this and tried targetting him, but he almost never got out to short balls and was quite happy for fast bowlers to bowl there too him as it meant they were less likely to be bowling the ball where they actually could get him out - on a good length outside off stump!