George Bailey, the former Australia captain has been named as the third member of the Australia selection panel. The other members of the panel are chairman Trevor Hohns and coach Justin Langer.
Bailey joins the selection panel
Bailey will be filling the position left vacant by Greg Chappell who decided to step down after the Ashes series earlier this year. Baily is in all likelihood going to play the contemporary voice that Cricket Australia has been searching for. Communication between selectors and players has improved with time but apparently the players have suggested it can get better still. Bailey will be working as the bridge between the two camps. He will bring along the perspective of a cricketer with his experience in the Twenty20 era, leading Australia to the global tournament in Sri Lanka in 2012 when they reached the semi-finals.
According to a report in ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ and ‘The Age’, Bailey will not be the first active cricketer to be a national selector. In the past, Don Bradman and Michael Clarke were given the role while they were the captains of their national teams. Bailey with the tally of 5 Tests, 90 ODIs and 30 T20s, is yet to retire from the game. Bailey when asked about his biasness during serving this job, he reportedly said, “I’m not going to pick myself”.
CA says
CA’s head of national teams Ben Oliver said, “There will be some people who are really disappointed no doubt [at missing out on the role] but they should all take great encouragement and they all have a lot to offer. Really looking forward to getting to the end of that process. Not quite there yet, but we’re not far away.”
He further explained, “The panel, and all three, will be responsible for all Australian men’s teams. What we’ve tried to achieve in this recruitment process is adding in some complementary skills to support Trevor and Justin, and one of those is a consideration around short-format cricket.”
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