Bailey's red-ball performance key to earning baggy green in 'return Ashes', says Oz media

The Australian media has said that had acting captain George Bailey matched his red-ball performance with his white-ball show, then his name would already be inked in for the first Test of the return Ashes series at Brisbane's Gabba.

Bailey's man of the match performance of 85 from 82 balls during Australia's resounding victory over India in the opening one-day match of the series at Pune reinforced his position as Australia's premier one-day batsman.

According to News.com.au, Bailey's 1146 runs at 48 from 30 matches is more than 400 ahead of all-rounder Shane Watson and 500 ahead of regular captain Michael Clarke during the same period and he is the only regular batsman to average in the 40s.

Although the report said that contrastingly, Bailey's record in Test games is much starker as he averaged just 18 in eight Sheffield Shield matches for Tasmania last season, however, he may yet be selected in the winter Ashes series with the Australian Test team in an urgent need for batsmen following their 3-0 drubbing by England in the summer.

The report further said that Bailey can bat, as he has highlighted so spectacularly at one-day international level during the past 18 months, adding that if he had backed up his previous Shield season's average of 58 again last summer instead of falling away badly, he may be in the Test side already.

States chasing results with seamer friendly pitches is being blamed as one of the reasons for Australia's current malaise, with batsmen losing confidence and the ability to bat for long periods to build decent scores, while bowlers receive inflated figures, the report added.