George Bailey has led the side in limited overs on the past © Getty Images
Contrary to media reports, Australia batsman George Bailey has not retired from Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). England take on Australia in the one-off T20I at Cardiff. Bailey has been named in the squad and is a regular member of the limited overs squad. It was earlier reported in many sections of the media that Bailey has retired. However, sources within the Cricket Australia confirmed on Monday afternoon that Bailey has not retired from T20Is. He will be very much in contention to take on to face England on Monday for the one-off match. Bailey has in the past led the Australian team in the limited overs. He took over the reins of T20I captaincy from Cameron White in 2012, leading his side to 13 wins in 27 matches.
Bailey has not played in a T20I since 2014 and handed over the captaincy to Aaron Finch, but missed out the series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and three matches following it in order to focus on Test cricket. In 2014, he was quoted saying, “The very end goal is hopefully to play more Test cricket, but more than that it’s just about playing the best four-day cricket I can.”
The last time the two teams met in this format, however, was in Australia, at the end of a horrific Ashes tour for England. They lost three T20Is out of three to exit Australia with a whimper.Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, has hosted only two T20Is so far, both in September, 2010. England defeated Pakistan by two wickets and six wickets respectively.
(Sudatta Mukherjee is a reporter with CricketCountry. Other than writing on cricket, she spends penning random thoughts on her blog. When she is not writing, you will catch her at a movie theatre or watching some English television show on her laptop. Her Twitter handle is @blackrosegal)