Can Bailey bail out the Baggy Greens?

In the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, the Kangaroos are in the midst of a crisis. They have their backs against the wall after their skipper Michael Clarke suffered a back injury and is unsure of making a comeback in this prestigious tournament. Moreover, the pressure is on the Aussies to replicate their feat for the third consecutive time and make it a hat-trick of Champions Trophies after having won it in 2006 and 2009.

A 243-run loss against India in one of their warm up games did not help situations either. The absence of a brutal batting line-up and the presence of inexperience in their bowling armory showed up starkly and has been proving fatal since The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen hung up their boots. The biggest setback to Australian cricket recently was when Mr. Cricket, Michael Hussey, announced his retirement in December last year.

A terrorizing team ever since the inception of cricket, a country which bred Don Bradman, a nation which was graced by the captaincies of a Steve Waugh and a Ricky Ponting, looks helpless and directionless at the moment. Where is an overpowering Hayden, where is a deft Martyn, where is a bamboozling Warne and where is a tireless McGrath? The answer is, pretty much nowhere. The current Australian squad has only three such members who have had real game experience on the international level: Mitchell Johnson, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson.  Adam Gilchrist must be shocked at the indecision Australia faces with respect to a regular keeper, switching between Brad Haddin, Tim Paine or the current keeper, Matthew Wade.

They have had considerably more issues to resolve in their Test Squad, the highlight of which was their recent drubbing at the hands of India in a Border-Gavaskar whitewash.  The stand-in skipper George Bailey has an insurmountable task at hand during the ongoing Champions Trophy. And the light has got dimmer after England thrashed Australia in their first fixture. What remains are two group matches against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. However, what is at stake is a great deal more – pride to salvage, questions to answer and the spot for the head coach for Mickey Arthur to retain. Bailey was the stand alone figure along with James Faulkner, resisting the English whereas the rest of the team fell like nine pins. So Mr. George Bailey, here’s the situation, do you have an answer?