Who should captain the Australian T20 team? Should you pick your best 11 players before selecting the captain? And if so, would George Bailey be in the team?
This is the inevitable debate prompted by Australia’s capitulation at the World T20 in Bangladesh, where Bailey’s leadership and batting have both been sub-par.
In Australia’s opening match against Pakistan, Bailey came to the wicket with a win all but gift-wrapped by Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch. The Aussies needed just 66 from 50 balls, with seven wickets in hand.
After struggling to counter Pakistan’s slow bowlers, Bailey tried to manufacture a shot through cover and was bowled by a Shahid Afridi straight ball. As a result of his inability to get off strike, the equation had been turned into a suddenly tricky 46 runs off 28.
Maxwell again ran rampant against the West Indies, but with Australia three wickets down within seven overs he needed his skipper to stick around. Bailey battled to move the run rate along before succumbing, scooping an innocuous delivery from Marlon Samuels straight to midwicket.
He compounded these woes with an embarrassing effort in the Aussies’ encounter with India. Australia were 5-63. They required 97 from 58 balls to win, a difficult task but far from insurmountable.
Having seen a parade of teammates gift their wickets with thoughtless strokes, Bailey replicated their mistakes. One delivery after striking a six, he arrogantly tried to repeat the feat and lobbed the ball to deep mid-wicket. At 6-63 the game was now done and dusted.
His captaincy has also been flawed, particularly his mishandling of the spin bowlers. Bailey showed little faith in either veteran Brad Hogg or precocious leg spinner James Muirhead as Australia’s specialist tweakers delivered just eight overs combined in their first three matches.
Against the West Indies, Bailey was reluctant to introduce Muirhead and then refused to employ him as the opposition charged towards victory.
Against India, Muirhead secured the crucial early wicket of champion strokemaker Virat Kohli. Yet a pair of long hops delivered to Yuvraj Singh were enough to see the young spinner banished after two overs.
Opposition captains, particularly those from subcontinental sides, are not so swift to lose confidence in their slow bowlers when they concede a boundary or two.
As I argued on The Roar yesterday, Australia cannot haul themselves up the T20 rankings without investing more heavily in their slow bowlers. Bailey must then properly utilise the tweakers who are selected.
There are actually a few alternatives for the captaincy, with Cameron White, Shane Watson, David Warner and Steve Smith all realistic options.
The unknown, of course, is whether any of them would be more effective than Bailey.
White led the Aussie team for 12 months after Michael Clarke stepped down at the start of 2011 – a period in which Australia triumphed in only two of the six matches they played. White subsequently lost not just the captaincy but his position in the line-up, replaced in both by Bailey.
The Victorian has strongarmed his way back into the side thanks to a robust limited-overs season in Australia. He is a proven leader, having captained Victoria for almost a decade and steered them to trophies in all formats before taking a break last season.
Having only just returned to the national side, he surely needs to cement his position before being handed back the captaincy.
What, then, of Watson’s credentials? He has led Australia at limited-overs level before and, importantly, is one of the first players picked in the T20 team.
He did, however, step down as Australian vice-captain in all formats just a year ago following the Indian tour debacle, so he may no longer desire a leadership role at international level.
Warner, his fellow top-order blaster, has been reported to have a keen interest in captaincy. Like Watson, he is a fixture in the T20 line-up. He has also led the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League.
The belligerent opener has been described as a potential future leader of the national side by Clarke, Smith and former Australian coach Mickey Arthur. While many cricket followers look down on Warner due to his churlish behaviour, he is clearly held in much higher regard among those in the Australian set-up.
Then, of course, there is Test-captain-in-waiting Smith. The 24-year-old could not even earn a spot in Australia’s 15-man World Cup squad, but he must have been very close to doing so as a result of his sterling form in the BBL and Ryobi Cup – 485 runs at 48 across both domestic competitions.
Smith has captaincy experience in all formats at domestic level and is widely regarded as an astute tactician and leader. But he’s in an even less desirable situation than White in that he still must earn and solidify his place in the T20 side before being considered for the captaincy.
So where does that leave all the alternative T20 skippers?
We have two players in White and Smith who are not even assured of a place in the team, another in Watson who seems to have abandoned his leadership dreams, and a fourth in Warner who is viewed as a boorish moron by much of the public.
Despite this perception, Warner is probably the best option among the four were Australia to look to make an immediate change to their captaincy.
But I doubt that will happen. Bailey’s status as Australia’s skipper and leading player at ODI level will buy him more time in the shortest format.
Shouts Chen
Guest
George Bailey has to go. Given that he's 32 this year, he's had a good record from 2012. And in 2012-13, the Australia were whitewashed 3-0. And Matthew Wade needs to take over George Bailey as captain for T20S. He can handle the team well and score runs.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Bailey had a bad tournament, as did Watson, but coming into the tournament they both had very good recent form in limited overs cricket, and few people wouldn't have had them in their best Australian batting lineup for T20 cricket. Unfortunately, they both had shockers here. I just find it curious that the first time he was picked to play for Australia he made his debut as captain. He was basically picked more despite his batting than because of it, and then his batting in international limited overs matches started looking pretty good after that. But the suggestion was that he was some brilliant captain and leader of men, so he was selected more for that than his batting. But on the field, when the chips are down, he always has the look of a man with no idea what to do. This compares to M.Clarke who seems to have no end of plan B, C, D, E etc up his sleeve to try.
Devout Saint
Guest
I did say looking at. I should have said towards a future top 6. I see so much potential in Henriques as a batsman, but he has to fulfil it. I think Mitch Marsh is a very special talent too. I see him as a future number 4 test batsman. He could even be a future captain. I am extremely confident that he will eventually be a mainstay of Australian cricket. If it was not for injuries, he would probably already be in the Australian team in all forms of the game. If Cummings had not been injured he would probably be another mainstay in all forms too. I would also love watching Australia bat with a top 6 of Warner, Watson, Clarke, M Marsh, Smith and Henriques. Regarding having 2 all rounders in my top 6, well you count Marsh as an all rounder too. I have them all on their batting alone and not picked any of them for their bowling although Watson's bowling does come in very handy at times. Watson should be picked in all forms of the game as long as he can bat.
jack thomas
Guest
He's injured only because of the bowling load. He knows his body more than anybody else. If he's the captain, he'll restrict his bowling load to a minimum to not get injured.
deccas
Guest
what about when he is injured? You can't have a captain who is at best, available for 70% of the fixtrues.
deccas
Guest
I question putting two allrounders in the top 6, especially when one has a first class batting average under 25. Mitch Marsh, much like his brother, gets far more consideration than his performance warrents
deccas
Guest
Is this Shane?
Don Freo
Guest
Bailey has been a wonderful captain and a wonderful batsman. He failed this series, but so did everyone else. The problem was Lehmann and team selection. Coulter-Nile was our best bowler in the first game...and dropped for The Mouth from Tassie who was too busy talking to concentrate in the pressure overs. Bollinger???! How do they pick a geriatric who can't bat, can't field and bowls slower than NCN? NCN is our second best fieldsman (after Maxi), our best closing bowler and lethal with the bat IF the upper order have set a foundation. IF... The Scorchers won the BBL, so the selectors omit the only Scorchers in the squad, NCN and Hoggy. They were 2 of the best performed bowlers in BBL. NCN proved his worth in the last game...and still only got 3 overs (2/17) while Maxwell went at 12/over. Crazy!
Dan Ced
Roar Rookie
My suggestion is to put Klinger in the team in place of Bailey (not as captain) Klinger made the domestic one day all star team, is a usually reliable T20 opener best paired with a slogger like Warner or Finch (who had pretty crappy world cups) Tom Cooper also in great form lately, probably a little better form than Klinger. The reason I suggest Klinger and Cooper, apart from my Redbacks bias.. is that its thinking out of the box.. thinking IN the box isn't working, that is obvious due to our failures.
jack thomas
Guest
Alan, FYI, the public which over-reacted for such small incident, the same public favoured watson for captaincy ahead of clarke in various polls in 2010. dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/cricket/fans-say-they-dont-want-michael-clarke-as-australian-cricket-captain/story-e6frey50-1225978291761 http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90779/7335455.html
jack thomas
Guest
Alan, stop bothering by making comments to posts without reading. I mentioned in my 1st post that, "Watson, from 2012 looked matured enough to be a captain". Infact, he was good enough from 2011. The incident you mentioned happened in 2009. It wasn't a mistake. He just overdid it. The media and the public over-reacted to it too. He apologised in the post match conference. Every modern cricketer i've seen who are really passionate about the game goes through it in their early stages where they show their high intensity. You(and majority of the public) fail to understand that he is one of the most passionate cricketers.
Larney
Guest
As you said, it was a long time ago. You can see he grown with age, as did Ponting, Clarke, as will Warner and Faulkner.
AlanKC
Guest
This is the same Watson who stood shrieking in Chris Gayle's face at the Waca a while back, isn't it?
Larney
Guest
I agree with you Jack about the media. It was never said at a press conference and was edited to a few words for the news report. Also, agree with the fact that he is constantly shuffled around the order and that more does seem to be expected from him than the others. For a couple of years he carried the team and now people seem to think that if he doesn't get that magical number well........ even if it's a reasonable score.
Larney
Guest
My point is that you shouldn't dump the captain because of some losses.
Larney
Guest
My point is that you shouldn't dump the captain because of some losses.
jack thomas
Guest
I said, he's a naive young man. I know he's in the leadership role for NSW. I really dont care about it or about the people who rate him high. May be there's nobody else better in that team to lead NSW(I don't have any idea about NSW team). But i'm talking about Australian national team here. I've been following Australian cricket for the past 2 years much deeper than ever just because i've become a fan of watson. I dont support any team and i watch cricket only for strong-willed characters(steve waugh, Mcgrath, watson) cos i enjoy watching them play. If watson is not in the team, i wouldn't watch cricket at all n i wouldn't be in this discussion. Since, i can judge people's character very good after watching them for a while, i've an idea of who is what. I've a intellect of my own. I only believe in it. Ronan, i've ultra strong opinions on the current issue. Lets leave it there. No offence in anyway whatsoever. Really appreciate your efforts. Cheers.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Cheers Jules. I think Watson (if he wants it) or Warner would be the best short-term options. But I think Bailey deserves, and will get, a bit longer in the side. Australia only have another 5 T20s this year from what I can see so that is not a big sample size.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Incredible numbers and it is that form which will almost certainly ensure he doesn't get dumped from the T20 side. His returns for the T20 side have actually been reasonable before this World Cup too.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Henriques doesn't get much love among Aussie cricket fans but I reckon he is not far off being Test standard. He has made 737 runs at 61 from just nine games the past two Shield seasons. His innings in the Shield final last month was sensational. WA were on the march when he came to the crease and by the time he was finished the game was all but NSW's.