Chewie
BCCI President
Tasmania v South Australia, Day 4, Sheffield Shield, Round 1, Adelaide
Captain George Bailey saves Tasmania from Embarrassing Loss
October 16, 2010
South Australia 374 and 14-1 (Geeves 1-10) drew with Tasmania 199 and 388-9 dec. (Bailey 184, Geeves 53, George 4-103)
Tasmania resumed this morning on 156 for 5, still 19 runs behind South Australia’s first innings score, and battling to avoid an embarrassing loss for their new coach in his first game. Over the past two days Tasmanian fans had criticised their board for choosing such a hopeless coach, and a ten wicket loss would be justification of such an outcry of dissent. Tim Paine and George Bailey entered with a lot of pressure, to save not only the game, but the coach as well.
With only one man outside the circle to both batsman, and 7 men in the slips and close in, any shot played with force would bring runs. The batsman used to this to their advantage as they avoided an innings loss in the 6th over of the day. From there it was about trying to extend their 50 run, 150 ball partnership for as long as possible. Unfortunately, the bowler of the innings Peter George managed to grab the outer edge of Paine’s bat and the ball sped to slip were Harris managed to keep hold of a ball that was absolutely flying. It didn’t look like the match was going to last much longer with two and a half sessions still left to play. Luke Butterworth got off to a good start with numerous drives to the boundary, but giving no chances to the South Australians. The partnership comparatively motored along to 36 at more than three an over before Daniel Christian picked up his first wicket on the second innings to go with the six he managed in the first. At this point Bailey was approaching his century, showing the rest of his team how it was done. He whacked a Tim Lang ball through the air and it looked for a second that he would bring his century up with a very uncharacteristic six, but it fell just short, and he eventually brought up the century on the last ball of the over. It was a great effort on a pitch described as very good for the pace bowlers, and it was up to his team mates to stick around with him, and not make this 256 ball vigil go to waste.
After the break, Peter George looked threatening, getting one ball to narrowly miss Bailey’s edge, before he edged another ball to the boundary later in the over. Apart from those slight hiccups, Bailey soon settled back into the groove, defending most balls and hitting all the bad ones to the boundary. Brett Geeves played a good supporting role, passing the strike to Bailey when he could, and defending otherwise. He played one interesting stroke in late cutting a bouncer somehow that went to the boundary, but apart from that he was solid in defence and didn’t offer any chances. The period between lunch and tea was navigated safely for the loss of no wickets, with Tasmania having a lead of 143 runs at the break. Thoughts would have crossed the captain’s mind of a declaration and trying to spark a South Australian collapse, but considering the position that they had been in, it was deemed prudent that Tasmania settle for a draw. This would also give Bailey the opportunity to score his first double century – he had passed his highest FC score a while ago.
After the break both Geeves and Bailey began to play their shots, confident in the knowledge that the game was safe. Bailey was determined to reach his double century, and the run rate picked up drastically. However, Bailey was caught and bowled trying to go for too many runs. The ball stopped on him and he offered up a simple chance; an unfortunate way to go. Geeves reached his half century and departed shortly afterwards – caught attempting a pull shot. Rather than give the opposition the satisfaction of bowling them out for a second time, Bailey decided to call the batsman back to the shed. Understandably, the South Australian batsman decided to echo the Tasmania approach to batting and played defensively. Geeves did manage to get one consolation wicket in getting Daniel Harris caught behind, but apart from that, the South Australian innings was a short one, as the batsman just wanted to get the match over and done with.
While Tasmania had been in a dismal position at the end of days two and three, some outstanding batting and defending from captain George Bailey had rescued them from what seemed like certain defeat. His 149 run partnership with Geeves for the 8th wicket was a Tasmanian record, and deservingly Bailey was named man of the match for his decisive innings. South Australia would be disappointed that they couldn’t press home an advantage after Christian had run through the Tasmanian batting line-up in the first innings. To recover from such a position will be a good boost for the new Tasmanian coach, but he will still be disappointed in their efforts with the bat in the first innings.
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