Dean Jones says Bailey has temperament to play for Oz in Tests

Sydney: Dean Jones has claimed Australia’s Twenty20 captain George Bailey has the skills and the temperament to play in the Test format after his unbeaten innings of 125 from 110 balls on Sunday against the West Indies.

Bailey took the hosts from a perilous 6-98 to a winnable total of 7-266 against the West Indies in Perth as Australia grabbed a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Since his debut in the Caribbean last March, the Tasmanian is averaging 45 in ODIs, has scored 303 more runs than the next Australian (720 compared to Dave Hussey`s 417) and is second only to England`s Ian Bell worldwide for most one-day runs in that time. Jones said Bailey certainly has got the game to play Test cricket, adding his stats in the first-class cricket might not be outrageous but he`s starting to prove now in difficult situations you can trust him to find a way to do a job for you. Jones added Bailey got a really good 80-odd in the first one-day against Sri Lanka and that knock on Sunday was an absolute ripper, adding he has no doubt it raised some eyebrows around the place, ‘Oh George, maybe we didn`t think you were that good?’ Jones said recent changes to the 50-over game such as the re-introduction of two new white balls per innings had made one-day cricket closer to the five-day format. Australia has named an inexperienced batting squad for India following the retirements of veterans Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, and Jones said Bailey`s leadership qualities would have been hugely valuable to Test captain Michael Clarke. ANI