Launceston-born George Bailey’s long reign as Tasmanian Tigers captain has gracefully come to an end.
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The well-respected 36-year-old selflessly stepped aside as the state’s Sheffield Shield captain on Friday to concentrate more on scoring runs.
Bailey has yielded just 45 runs at 5.62 from eight innings this summer with the former Australian Twenty20 and ODI leader to be replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade.
Tigers coach Adam Griffith told media that Bailey would remain in the squad for next week’s match against South Australia at Bellerive Oval as a batsman.
“George came to me, and we’ve been having conversations about his game for a little while now,” said Griffith.
“It’s not something that was a surprise for me. When I first came back 18 months ago we did talk about that at some stage in his career he wanted to just play.
“My job is to get the best out of our players on the field and if him handing the captaincy over and being able to just concentrate on his batting gets the best out of himself, then it’s my job to facilitate that.
“We think it’s best that he plays just as a batsman, to give himself every chance to focus on his batting and get back into form for the remainder of the season.”
Bailey, a two-time Shield-winning leader, replaced Dan Marsh in the job for season 2009-10 and Griffith said he would still lead the Hurricanes with distinction – ruling out an imminent retirement.
“He is still a big part of Tasmanian cricket both with the Tigers and the Hurricanes,” Griffith said.
“[He would have to be up there with some of the best Tasmanian captains as] he’s won some premierships and he’s done it for a long period.
“We’ve had some outstanding captains over the years... and he’s been an unbelievable servant to Tasmanian cricket and hopefully he will be for a little bit of period for time to come.”
National captain and longtime teammate Tim Paine said the entire side was behind Bailey’s decision.
“I hope he comes back to the role at some stage,” he said.
“But certainly for now he feels that it’s in his best interests to concentrate on batting and get his form back.
“[I don’t think the captaincy was a burden] I just think he felt like he couldn’t give his full attention to it when he was trying to sort out his own game out. Obviously he hasn’t been doing as well as he liked and that’s been wearing him down.”
Griffith said Wade, 30, was the perfect man to step up and lead the Tigers having led the Vics in 2016-17 before his return home.
“Luckily, here we have a really strong leadership group of senior players who all work together during games and Matthew will step straight into the lead role and continue on the work we’ve already done,” he said.
“Matthew’s got great experience, having captained Victoria for a number of years, and will slide seamlessly into the role.”
On another note, former Launceston player Alex Pyecroft has been named in the Tigers’ squad for the round 5 clash which starts on Tuesday. Griffith said the 26-year-old’s selection was reward for positive performances.
“Alex has been bowling exactly the way we want our bowlers to be bowling at Shield level,” said Griffith.
“He’s selected from the Tigers Academy. It highlights the pathway opportunity for our club cricketers that if they come into our academy and do well then the next steps are there to be made.
“He brings a style of bowling that will work well here at Bellerive.”
National T20 batsman Ben McDermott, 23, has also been included as a replacement for injured all-rounder Beau Webster.
Webster will miss eight weeks with a knee injury after slipping while chasing the ball to the boundary on day 4 against Victoria.
Gurinder Sandhu has been dropped after making his Tasmanian debut and will line-up in the Futures League against the Vics on Monday at Toorak Park in Melbourne.
“It’s a really good opportunity for [Ben]. He’s spent some time with the Australian program and we’re excited to see what he can do as he was in good form for us before he left,” Griffith said.
“He got plenty of opportunity in the Shield team last year and didn’t quite nail it, but I think he’s a different player this year.
“He’s matured a lot, spent some time away overseas and really worked on his game and found some things out about himself and his cricket.”