George John Bailey (born 7 September 1982) is an Australian cricketer who has captained the Australian ODI and T20 International teams. He represents the Tasmanian cricket team in Sheffield Shield and Ryobi One-Day Cup matches, and also plays Twenty20 cricket for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League and the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League. Bailey was announced as Twenty20captain of the Australian national cricket team in 2012, succeeding Cameron White, in a series that ended 1–1. He became the second ever Australian to captain an international game, without having played an international game before, after Dave Gregory in the first ever Test match. On 1 May 2013, Bailey was announced the vice-captain of the Australian ODI team for the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He captained the Australian team in India in the absence of Michael Clarke, and on 12 November 2013 was named in the Australian team for the first Test against England.
Biography
After playing his junior cricket with the South Launceston Cricket Club, Bailey was first selected to play for Tasmania 2005/06, due to injuries to regular players. The season saw him score 778 runs, hitting three centuries in the process. Further prominent performances in the coming seasons saw Bailey play for Australia against the All Star team in the All Star Twenty20 match in 2009. Bailey was appointed as the permanent captain of Tasmania for the 2009/10 season, replacing Daniel Marsh.
On 14 February 2011, Bailey led Tasmania to a remarkable five wicket Sheffield Shield win over Victoria where he scored an unbeaten 160. Needing 130 in the final session, he and James Faulkner pushed the Tigers past the total in the 91st over of play on the final day to lift Tasmania to second on the table behind New South Wales. He captained Tasmania to its second Sheffield Shield title against New South Wales at Bellerive Oval in 2010/11.
On 10 January 2013, Bailey scored 89 runs and led Australia to a 107 run victory in his first ODI as captain during a match against Sri Lanka. On 3 February 2013, Bailey scored his ODI first century in a match against the West Indies. Australia had been in a difficult situation at 56/4 when Bailey came in, but his 125* from 110 balls took Australia to a challenging total of 266. Bailey continued this form during Australia's ODI series in India where he made 478 runs at an average of 95.60. This included a brilliant 156 from 114 balls during the 6th match and put his name firmly in the minds of the Australian Test selectors.
On 21 November 2013, Bailey made his Test debut for Australia when he was selected in first Ashes Test against England. During the second test match in Adelaide, Bailey made his first half-century with a score of 53.
West Indies
India
