OTD | Former Australian captain George Bailey was born in 1982

Former Australia cricketer and limited-overs captain George Bailey was born on 7 September 1982. After Cameron White’s tenure as Australia’s T20I team captain ended in 2012, the selectors were looking for a new leader and their quest ended in Bailey, who has made a name for himself in the domestic circuit. 

He became only the second Australian to captain an international game without having played an international match before. The previous incident was when Dave Gregory led the team in the first-ever Test match. He was one of the most notable state skippers, having played for the Tasmanian cricket team in all three domestic state competitions (Sheffield Shield, ODI Cup and KFC Twenty20 Big Bash). 

The great-great-grandson of George Herbert Bailey, who represented Tasmania in 15 first-class matches, Bailey was a destructive striker in his early days. In February 2012, he made his international debut in the T20 format against India as both player and captain. A month later, he started representing Australia in the 50-over format as well. 

Bailey has played 90 ODIs and 30 T20Is in the ‘yellow jersey’, scoring 3044 and 473 runs, respectively. He has scored three centuries and 22 half-centuries in the 50-over format. Bailey was appointed vice-captain of the ODI team for the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He also captained the team in the absence of regular skipper Michael Clarke. 

The 42-year-old made his all-format debut when he was named in the Australian team for the 2013–14 Ashes series against England. However, he failed to shine as expected and was subsequently dropped from the Test team.

Bailey has also played in the Indian Premier League. He captained Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the 2014 season and led them to finish the tournament as runners-up. It was the franchise’s best-ever season as they never made it to the finals again. He was appointed as the chief selector of Cricket Australia in 2021. 

Also read: Pakistan batter Saeed Anwar was born in 1968