Top job: John Inverarity with George Bailey.
ONE of George Bailey's frustrations about Twenty20 cricket is that much of the analysis of it is flawed.
As a mostly lighthearted blogger on the Melbourne Stars' website, the widely respected captain of Tasmania recently complained that the media "still use stats that aren't relevant to T20 cricket".
"Batting average, as one example, is not hardly as important as TV commentators would have us believe. If I bat throughout the innings for 45 (an outstanding T20 average) my teammates would throttle me. Likewise, a player who bats in the lower order will struggle to have a high average. Why aren't they flashing up how many balls batsmen score off? How many balls they face per boundary? Average runs scored in partnerships while a particular batsman bats?" Bailey wrote.
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"Cricket Australia are now pumping huge amounts of money into T20 and it's growing around the world. Surely the time is right to have a think about the best way to measure who our best players are!"
Bailey is right. If selectors had taken his advice, however, he would not be in the national team on current form, let alone leading it.
On scoring rate, Bailey is not in elite company. Of the 24 batsmen to face at least as many deliveries as the 29-year-old for the tournament — 103 — only Hobart's Jonathan Wells (109.24), the Sydney Sixers' Moises Henriques (109.46) and Sydney Thunder's Usman Khawaja (88.33), who is clearly not suited to limited-overs matches, have been less productive than Bailey with 110.68.
For balls per boundary, this season Bailey either hit or cleared the rope on 12 occasions, an average of once every 8.6 deliveries faced. Not only does this compare unfavourably with squad members such as Travis Birt (4.5) and Aaron Finch (5.7), but it also is inferior to higher-scoring players who missed out, such as the Sixers' Nic Maddinson (6.9), the Stars' Rob Quiney (6.9) and even Perth's Marcus North (7.8), a realistic alternative captain who has so far averaged 41.83 at a scoring rate of 123.65.
In terms of partnerships, Bailey's average of 30.9 is solid, although the three partnerships he was involved in that produced more runs than that all occurred when the Stars' best batsman, David Hussey, was at the other end. Furthermore, six of the nine completed partnerships Bailey was involved in ceased after he lost his wicket, meaning not only was he scoring slowly but he was also not stabilising the team's innings.
In fairness to Bailey his Twenty20 scoring rate before this season — 142.59 — was excellent. His form this season cannot, however, be blamed on a lack of opportunity as he was given the coveted No. 3 position for the Stars' first four matches.
Having averaged 24 with a scoring rate of 63.92 in this season's Ryobi Cup, Bailey's BBL form slump is not a complete anomaly.
Bailey's leadership at Tasmania has been almost universally praised. The recent ability for the smallest state to overachieve — it won the Sheffield Shield last season and the Ryobi Cup the year before — was, head selector John Inverarity declared, driven by Bailey's captaincy.
Michael Clarke has also been lauded for his captaincy, but towards the end of his Twenty20 reign his inability to match his teammates' batting feats was a heavy weight for him and his team to bear, to the point where his retirement from the format, and therefore the captaincy, just over a year ago was cheered.
In bestowing the captaincy on Bailey when his form does not warrant it, selectors have increased both the pressure on him and the possibility that three consecutive Australian Twenty20 skippers will depart in bad circumstances.
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