Tim Paine selection: Mark Waugh pushes George Bailey to make tough calls
George Bailey is only new to the Austraian cricket selection table - but this summer shapes as a defining one. And it goes beyond the Tim Paine situation.
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Former selector Mark Waugh has called for George Bailey to stand down as chairman of selectors if he is not prepared to make a ruling on whether close friend and business partner Tim Paine should line up in the Ashes series.
Waugh also expects Steve Smith to captain Australia this summer because he said workhorse Patrick Cummins – who is odds-on to replace Paine as skipper – would not be able to battle through a gruelling five-Test series without a rest.
Bailey revealed this week (see below) that if the national selection panel was split on whether Paine should retain the wicket-keeping gloves then he would recuse himself from discussions and let coach Justin Langer and new selector Tony Dodemaide reach a verdict.
Bailey and Paine are long-time friends from Tasmania and business partners in the Tasmania Body Fit Training franchise.
“It sounds like Tim is the only close friend I have, and I think since the day that I was given the opportunity to have this role we’ve been aware that’s the case,” Bailey said.
But Waugh, who served as a selector from 2014 to 2018 and helped resuscitate Paine’s international career ahead of the 2017-18 home Ashes, questioned whether Bailey was fit to chair the section panel given his close ties to current players.
“I’ve got a bit of an issue about this,” Waugh said.
“If you’re chairman of selectors it’s your job to make the decision.
“You’ve got to make the tough calls. I find this really weird.
“What happens if it’s one-all and Tony Dodemaide and Justin Langer can’t agree?
“Who makes the decision then if George Bailey’s not going to make it?
“I think down the track this could come back to haunt George as well, because there’s a lot of players at the back-end of their career who George played with.
“David Warner, Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade, so he’s going to make tough decisions on these players, and he’s still quite close to them.
“I think this needs to be sorted out. Either George stays as chairman, and he makes the decisions, or he steps down and just be a selector, not the chairman.”
Waugh declared Paine was still the No.1 keeper-batsman in Australia and said he would pick him for the December 8 Test at the Gabba if the 36-year-old was cleared both physically and mentally.
Waugh was also supremely confident that Cummins would be installed as Australia’s 47th Test captain.
“He hasn’t been named captain yet, but I think he will be,” Waugh told Fox Sports’ The Back Page.
“He’s going to have to be rested at some stage … that’s why the vice-captain is going to be so important and it’s going to have to be someone with a lot of experience.
“I say it’ll be Steve Smith, I think that’s the way they’ll go.”
HOW BAILEY WILL DEAL WITH PERSONAL FRIEND PAINE
By Peter Lalor
Chief selector George Bailey says he will recuse himself from discussions over Tim Paine’s selection for the Ashes should there be any division among selectors on the topic.
Speaking exclusively to the Cricket Et Cetera podcast, the Tasmanian who describes himself as a close friend of the former captain, discussed the interest the two share with a number of other partners in the Tasmanian Body Fit Training franchise.
The pair revealed their involvement alongside former St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt at the launch of the business in August 2020.
“If the panel was not in agreeance with Tim’s position going forward and it was going to come down to a vote, then I would step aside and leave that to Tony (Dodemaide) and Justin (Langer) to work through,” Bailey said in response to a question from co-host of the podcast Gideon Haigh. “They’re both aware of that.”
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Bailey said there were conflicts at many levels when a selector is only recently retired.
“I feel like by saying that it sounds like Tim is the only close friend I have and I think since the day that I was given the opportunity to have this role we’ve been aware that’s the case,” the former Tasmanian captain and Test player said.
“I have strong friendships and relationships that go back years with a number of players. I guess that can be viewed a number of ways. There could be a tendency to go easier or vice versa and you could be harder on those players at times.
“I truly believe having strong relationships with the players I doubly make sure to do the job to the best of my ability and I understand that the decisions we make have large ramifications both positive and negative both for the players and their families, their livelihoods and their careers. It’s not something taken lightly and we put the work in because of that to make sure we try and make the best decision we can whether it is with Tim or with anyone.”
Paine and Langer use the same management company but the biggest conflict for the coach at the selection table will be his friendship with the former captain and his fierce loyalty to his men.
The coach and the former captain were tasked with rescuing the reputation of Australian cricket following the sandpapergate scandal and were part of the team that welcomed Steve Smith and David Warner back into the game.
Bailey said neither he nor Paine were actively involved in running the gym business and that cricket was their “primary and number one focus”.
Paine returned to cricket on Monday in a four-day Tasmanian second XI match. He had been due to play club cricket on Saturday but the game was washed out.
Shane Warne has said he does not believe Paine should play in the Ashes, while Brad Haddin has acknowledged the player who stood down from the captaincy on Friday had to prove he was ready to go.
Paine is recovering from neck surgery, which has kept him away from the game this summer, but he looked to move freely as he took six catches in the first innings of the match.
Bailey said the selectors were watching the former captain’s return and admitted there was always some concern he would be fit in time for the first Test on December 8 at the Gabba.
“One thing Tim’s always been pretty good at is the preparation side of things. He is quite meticulous,” he said. “There is no doubt it is not an ideal preparation, but we’ll watch this game and he’ll know how he gets through the four days as much as anyone. I don’t think there’ll be a skill problem but over the next 58 days of the Ashes, 25 are pretty heavy days of cricket, so it’s something to be aware of.
“We’ve been aware that purely physically it is going to be a tight-run thing regardless, but he is certainly really confident that the injury has healed well and I guess this is the next step of the process: the return to play, how does it go, time on feet, the repetitive nature of wicketkeeping, batting under a game-like situation.”
Bailey said the selectors had always been aware they might need to replace Paine at some stage and appeared to indicate Alex Carey was his most likely successor.
“The nature of Tim’s role and age it is not a conversation that hasn’t come up in the past. Tim’s position aside, that’s the same thing we do about David Warner at the age he is at the top of the order or the three fast bowlers we’ve been reliant on. Nathan Lyon has been a constant conversation about how important he has been to the team. They’re all at an age where you have to be a little bit prepared.
“We’ve named Alex Carey in the Australia A team, but at the moment as far as batting wicketkeepers go, we are in a reasonably strong position between Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Jimmy Pierson. I watched Josh Philippe bat beautifully yesterday (Sunday) as well. It would be quite nice if we could play four or five wicketkeepers.”
SHOCK SANDPAPERGATE PAINE PLAN REVEALED
By Robert Craddock
Just before Australia appointed Tim Paine its full-time Test captain, it hatched a secret Plan B which would have shocked the cricket world.
Australia decided if Paine was not the man it would rush his Tasmanian teammate George Bailey from the Sheffield Shield final in Brisbane to South Africa to negotiate the bitter fallout of the Sandpapergate scandal which left Australian cricket is ruins.
Australia went with Paine but three years later the lives of these two long-time friends, teammates and occasional business partners remain interwoven at a level neither could have forecast entering the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.
Paine has stood down as captain of the Australian team after the sexting scandal and Bailey, in his first major assignment as Australia’s head Test selector, must decide whether Paine, at 36, keeps his place in the Test XI for the Gabba Test.
The odds are Paine, a better keeper and batter than he often gets credit for, will play but nothing is as simple as it seems.
Late last week in Hobart Bailey visited Paine as he negotiated the fallout to the scandal.
Now Bailey must morph from mate and mentor to the emotionally neutral boss who hires and fires.
Paine’s Gabba future is a complex debate on several fronts.
Leaving the sexting issue to one side, Shane Warne felt Paine was fading anyway and that Josh Inglis is the man for the Gabba.
Brad Haddin, a long term Paine backer, is concerned over his lack of fitness. Mark Waugh asked similar questions.
Former coach John Buchanan believes Paine should stand down to reiterate the high standards expected of Australian cricketers and as a sign that a new high mark has been set.
Without the captaincy, Paine will be judged as a 36-year-old keeper batsman so he is instantly more vulnerable.
But he is in the squad for the first Test and that makes him difficult to drop.
Two of the four hurdles threatening Paine’s participation have been cleared.
Cricket Australia, despite urging Paine to stand down as captain, have no problem with him playing.
Secondly, there was also the question of whether Paine wanted to play. That is solved. He does.
Then there is the issue of his fitness from neck surgery which will become clearer in the next two weeks.
It’s not a matter to be underestimated. Keepers put pressure on their necks every ball. Even mild discomfort could be a major issue. One random “click’’ in a trial match could spell the end of his Test career.
And finally … the big one. Do the selectors feel that despite loss of captaincy he is worth having as a keeper and batsman at age 36 with virtually no major match practice?
Historically most Australian captains vanish from the team the instant they stand down from the leadership.
Paine is hoping to stay one last series and at the moment his wish is more chance of being granted than not.
But that is today. Things can change in a heartbeat in cricket. No-one knows that better than the man himself.
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