Sussex's Australian one-day internationals: Ryan Harris & George Bailey

Tickets for Sussex Sharks' floodlit one-day match against Australia on Thursday 7th June are on sale now. To mark the occasion, we are looking back at the Australian one-day international cricketers that have also donned a Sussex shirt. In the final part, we examine the bizarre tale of one-cap wonder Ryan Harris and George Bailey’s time with the club in 2015.

Ryan Harris

 

ODI record for Australia (2009-2012): 21 matches. 48 runs @ 8.0 (HS 21). 44 wickets @ 18.9 (BB 5-19).

Sussex overall record (2008): 1 match, 19 runs @ 19.0 (HS 19). 4 wickets @ 9.0 (BB 4-36).

Sussex’s signing of Ryan Harris in February 2008 seemed a major triumph for the county champions. According to The Argus, the club had beaten off competition from three other counties for the signature of South Australia’s leading wicket taker in the 2007 Sheffield Shield. Best of all, the 28-year-old had joined the squad as a non-overseas player thanks to a father from Leicester.

Harris played just one game for Sussex

Excitement from Sussex supporters over their latest recruit grew following Harris’ debut in the season curtain-raiser against MCC at Lord’s in early April, during which he took 4-36 from 17 miserly overs. This performance prompted questions over Harris’ intentions from the press at the match, however. Could a bowler of such quality really be happy to scupper his international ambitions for Australia by signing on as a non-overseas in England? Harris’ response, as quoted in The Guardian at the time, suggested as much without fully putting the issue to rest: “I might return to play in Australia as an overseas player. I’m not thinking about international cricket at this stage.”

Harris’ less than unequivocal reply was a hint of the confusion that was to follow and over the next two days saw Sussex’s preparations for their title defence thrown into disarray. Firstly, it transpired that Harris had signed a three-year contract with Queensland Bulls back home in Australia. No problem for Sussex if, as Harris had intimated he would, he had joined Queensland as an overseas player. But Harris had signed as a local player and was therefore no longer prepared to play as a non-overseas in the English game.

Moments before the toss of Sussex’s first Championship match of the season against Hampshire, Harris was removed from the side. The following day, the club agreed to terminate Harris’ contract and his short Sussex career was over.

Harris went on to play 21 ODIs for Australia 

Ultimately, it turned out to be the correct move from Harris’ point of view. He would go on to make his ODI debut for Australia the following January, a test debut in 2010 and enjoyed a successful, if injury plagued, international career before his retirement in 2015.

George Bailey

ODI record for Australia (2012-2016): 90 matches. 3,044 runs @ 40.6 (3x100, 22x50, HS 156).

Sussex overall record (2015): 14 matches, 340 runs @ 37.8 (1x100, 1x50, HS 112). 

The most recent Australian one-day international cricketer to play for Sussex is George Bailey. The then 32-year-old arrived on the south coast halfway through the 2015 T20 Blast as a replacement for Mahela Jayawardene. The former Australian captain brought with him the experience of 97 caps for his country and high expectations.

The Tasmanian struggled to make an impact in T20 cricket for Sussex, however. A return of 76 runs from his six innings and a top score of 33 was well below what Sussex supporters had hoped for from a man with two hundreds and 17 fifties in international white ball cricket behind him. Sussex finished second in the south group, before exiting at the quarter final stage later in the summer.

Bailey was also available for the Royal London One Day Cup. After a sluggish start, he showed what he was capable of with 219 runs from his final three innings, including a 76-ball 112 against Middlesex. Despite his late run of form, Sussex endured a torrid campaign, failing to win a game and finishing bottom of Group B.

Bailey has scored 3,700 runs for Australia across all formats  

Following his spell with the club, Bailey has gone on to play another 33 ODIs and one more T20 for Australia, as well as returning to the T20 Blast with Middlesex in 2016 and Hampshire in 2017. As captain of the Hobart Hurricanes in the Australian Big Bash League, Bailey retains a Sussex connection thanks to the presence of Sussex bowlers Jofra Archer and Tymal Mills in his side this season.

Witness the next chapter of Sussex & Australia's one-day history. Tickets for Sussex Sharks vs. Australia on Thursday 7th June 2018 are available here.  

 

 

 

Feature sources: Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent The Argus, Cricinfo, Cricket Archive