Bailey bags top job on debut

Adelaide, Jan 30: They say leaders are born, not trained. Many in the Australian cricket circuit, not least the national selectors, believe this to be true of George Bailey. The 29-year-old Tasmanian is all set to lead his country on international debut in the KFC Twenty20 internationals against the touring Indians.

Traditionally, Australian captains are identified from an early age and groomed under the incumbent before taking the top job. Although Bailey has been around for a while on the domestic circuit and has proved his credentials as a leader there, he is a rookie at the highest level. And now, he is set to become the first Aussie since Dave Gregory – Australia’s first Test captain – to lead the national team on debut.

Barring the players who led the team in the first international match played by their respective nations, Bailey will become the 28th man in the world to take the reins of the national team in his first international game. He will be the first to do so in the Twenty20 internationals.

Players who have captained their teams on international debut

Tests

Player Name	Country	Year
Lord Harris	England	1879
Hon.IFW Bligh	England	1882
CA Smith	England	1889
AR Richards	South Africa	1896
M Bisset	South Africa	1899
HM Taberer	South Africa	1902
JH Anderson	South Africa	1902
PW Sherwell	South Africa	1906
HDG Leveson Gower	England	1910
JWHT Douglas	England	1911
FT Mann	England	1922
RT Stanyforth	England	1927
AHH Gilligan	England	1930
Hon.FSG Calthorpe	England	1930
N Betancourt	West Indies	1930
GC Grant	West Indies	1930
HF Wade	South Africa	1935
Vizianagram	India	1936
A Melville	South Africa	1938
FG Mann	England	1948
ND Howard	England	1951
AR Lewis	England	1972

One-Day Internationals

Player Name	Country	Year
JV Harris	Canada	2003
Khurram Khan	UAE	2004
RR Watson	Scotland	2006
CM Wright	Scotland	2006
Saqib Ali	UAE	2008
ZE Surkari	Canada	2008

The decision to thrust an uncapped player into captaincy is likely to raise some eyebrows. But those who have seen Bailey from close quarters while leading Tasmania since 2009-10 consider him to be the right man for the job. And Bailey’s record backs his reputation.

George Bailey’s captaincy record

Format	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn/NR	Tied	Win %
First-class	31	15	8	8	0	48.38
One Day	32	17	13	1	1	53.12
Twenty20	13	7	6	0	0	53.84

In his first full season as captain, in 2009-10, the top-order batsman guided Tasmania to the FR Cup-win; he was the second-highest scorer of the tournament. Under his leadership, they also won the Sheffield Shield in 2010-11.

While the statistics prove his worth, it is his affability and spiritedness on and off the field that have earned him high regard from fellow players and officials alike.

“He's widely respected throughout Australia. Those who play with him regard him very highly as a captain and as a leader. We've seen from Michael Clarke's leadership, he has done very well not least because of his astute decision-making on the field and George certainly has that too," remarked chief Australian selector John Inverarity on Bailey’s selection to the prestigious post.

Bailey’s ascendancy to the captaincy of the national T20 team with the 2012 World Twenty20 in sight suggests he is an important long-term prospect for Australia. “The Australian T20 team has been ranked a rather disappointing sixth in the world and we've certainly considered that the team needs refreshment,” Inverarity elaborated.

The batsman’s exploits in domestic T20 competitions made him one of the few unknown overseas players to feature in the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008. He has remained a part of the Chennai Super Kings unit ever since.

Though he did not captain his side in the recent Big Bash tournament, and had an ordinary competition as a top-order batsman, he does not feel the national captaincy is undeserved. “I feel like I'm ready and I'm very excited about [captaincy]. I think once you have been captain and played in the team for a little while, any time you're on the field you're always thinking. I haven't captained during this Big Bash but even then I've always been thinking about what I'd be doing in similar circumstances, who I'd be bowling and field placements and things like that. I don't think that part of you ever goes away.”

‪

Bailey bags top job on debut

Bailey bags top job on debut

Related Articles

Latest Videos