Cricket World Cup: Australia may not have room for George Bailey and Michael Clarke

GEORGE Bailey faces the unusual scenario of captaining Australia in its World Cup opener and then being dropped for the next match.

Michael Clarke with One-Day captain George Bailey during the Australian One-Day squads first training session at the SCG. pic. Phil Hillyard

ON November 16 in Perth, George Bailey was asked how he felt about captaining Australia at the World Cup, after Michael Clarke had just broken down again in a one-day international, with the prognosis not looking great.

“No, I’ll be there to massage him, I’ll get him through,” said Bailey at the time.

“He’ll be right. He’ll be there to go.”

The answer was typical of Bailey’s infectious positivity and his unassuming team-first attitude.

But it also showed that in many ways, he’s a reluctant international skipper.

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Michael Clarke with his understudy as one-day captain, George Bailey. Picture: Phil Hillyard.

Twenty-four out of the 52 matches Bailey has played for Australia has been as captain, but for every single one of them he’s had to perform the duty in Clarke’s significant shadow.

Bailey has never found the caretaker role easy, even though his 55 per cent winning record suggests he’s more than capable.

However, there’s no way of sugar coating Bailey’s thankless task for this coming World Cup, particularly if Clarke looks like he’ll pass his February 21 fitness deadline.

For Bailey, he will likely be captain or nothing and it’s a daunting, cutthroat scenario completely out of his control.

He may go from warming Clarke’s captaincy seat in the tournament opener against England at the MCG, to warming the bench for the rest of the Cup.

The mental burden is difficult to imagine for the Tasmanian, who averages 44 in ODIs, but there is simply no room for Australia’s three middle-order stars Clarke, Bailey and Steve Smith in the same XI.

“Meatloaf sang “two out of three ain’t bad” but I don’t think George Bailey will be crooning along, as I reckon he’s the unlucky one who misses out,” wrote former World Cup star Damien Fleming in his blog for cricket.com.au.

“It’s unbelievable to think, really.

“If Clarke isn’t fit Bailey will be captain.

“So he’s either calling the toss or inquiring to playing teammates whether they want a Gatorade or soft drink!”

Bailey has openly admitted in the past that he finds it difficult to relieve Clarke mid-tournament.

George Bailey is used to filling Michael Clarke’s shoes as one-day skipper. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

So the same uneasy feeling must only be amplified for a situation where he will start a World Cup as skipper, and may not make it to the second week as part of the best XI.

At the 2013 Champions Trophy, Bailey was left to man a sinking ship, with Clarke away from the squad in London seeking pre-Ashes treatment on his dodgy back.

David Warner was sent packing for punching Joe Root in a nightclub, and the curtains were closing on Mickey Arthur’s reign as coach.

Bailey was front and centre for the entire ordeal. It couldn’t have been much fun.

Last year in Harare, when Clarke had torn his hamstring batting in the first innings and Australia hobbled to a mediocre total, Bailey was thrown into the deep end as skipper in the field as minnows Zimbabwe chased down a historic victory.

The situation became so desperate, Clarke limped back out on one leg to try and rescue the situation and although it was his right to do so as captain — it highlighted how thankless a task it is for Bailey to be the caretaker skipper.

Back at that same press conference in mid-November in Perth, Bailey indicated he doesn’t necessarily thrive on being Clarke’s stand-in.

“No, it’s a challenge. There’s no doubt it’s a challenge,” Bailey said.

“Just that added responsibility does personally take a little bit of (a toll).

“Which probably sometimes isn’t a bad thing. It makes me think less about my game.”

But on this occasion — on the biggest of cricketing occasions, the captaincy is only going to make Bailey dwell more on his own game.

The town ain’t big enough for the two of them.

Originally published as Cricket World Cup: Australia may not have room for George Bailey and Michael Clarke