George Bailey replaces Greg Chappell to become Australia cricket selector

Former Australia T20I captain George Bailey was appointed as one of the country’s three national selectors on Wednesday, replacing the retired Greg Chappell. He joins chairman Trevor Hohns and coach Justin Langer and draws the curtain on his long playing career after the domestic Big Bash League in early February to take on the role full-time.

“I have been fortunate enough to contribute as a player for quite a few years, and now have the opportunity to continue in the role of a selector is a tremendous honour,” said Bailey. “I’m confident I can add value to the selection process and that my experience will be complementary to that of Trevor and Justin.” The 37-year-old, former T20I skipper played five Tests, 90 one-dayers and 30 T20Is for Australia.

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He has also been a stalwart for Tasmania, the Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars since making his first-class debut in 2004. He is currently 12 runs short of 10,000 first-class runs. “He is an outstanding leader and one of the most respected, thoughtful and generous figures in international cricket,” said Cricket Australia’s head of national team Ben Oliver.

“His (Bailey) extensive experience across all formats and deep knowledge of shortest-format of cricket will be invaluable as we head into a home T20I World Cup (next year) and beyond.” Bailey replaces former Australian skipper Chappell, who had been Cricket Australia’s national talent manager for the past nine years and a selector before calling it quits in September.