{"id":399487,"date":"2026-01-08T10:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399487\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:01:09","slug":"steve-smith-defends-selector-george-bailey-after-stuart-clark-criticism-spin-success-at-scg-australia-wins-ashes-4-1-press-conference-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399487\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Smith defends selector George Bailey after Stuart Clark criticism, spin success at SCG, Australia wins Ashes 4-1, press conference latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s stand-in skipper Steve Smith has defended selection chair George Bailey following the furore that unfolded when former fast bowler Stuart Clark issued a stinging critique of backroom staff midway through the Sydney Test.<\/p>\n

After Australia\u2019s five wicket triumph secured a 4-1 triumph, Smith pointed to the nation\u2019s record across all formats during Bailey\u2019s tenure that began in 2021 as indicative of the successful partnership between players, coaches and selectors.<\/p>\n

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Although Australia, the defending ODI World Cup champions, has enjoyed significant success at Test level over the past four years and also claimed a T20 World Cup in 2021, criticism surrounding selection has flared on occasion.<\/p>\n

After Clark unloaded on Bailey and head of cricket James Allsopp while commentating earlier this week on the ABC, Cricket Australia banned its players from speaking to the national broadcaster after stumps on Day 3.<\/p>\n

Head coach of Australia Andrew McDonald, Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and George Bailey inspect the pitch during an Australia nets session at The Gabba on December 03, 2025 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden also criticised batting coach Michael Di Venuto after the Boxing Day debacle, but Smith has no doubt things are working well when it comes to selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure what\u2019s happened there, but in terms of George, he\u2019s done a wonderful job for a long time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince he\u2019s been in charge, we\u2019ve made a couple of Test Championship Finals, we\u2019ve played really good cricket and we\u2019ve won this series 4-1, so what more is there to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s captain Steve Smith (C) holds the Waterford Crystal Ashes Trophy with teammate Pat Cummins at the end of the fifth Ashes cricket Test between Australia and England at Sydney Cricket Ground on January 8, 2026. (Photo by DAVID GRAY \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n

Fox Cricket expert analyst and former Australian opener David Warner said on Wednesday that Bailey\u2019s greatest strength was his honesty<\/a> and Mitchell Starc, the player of the series, noted he had engaged in direct conversations with the selection chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the greatest thing with George it\u2019s never a sugar-coated conversation. He\u2019ll tell you straight up whether it\u2019s conditions based or role based, or the like. That\u2019s how I can speak on that relationship with George as a selector,\u201d Starc said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs Steve said, I think every move that George and the selection panel have made this series – it\u2019s a 4-1 result – and they have made some tough decisions, not just this series, but even going back (in the) series before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stokes: We havent performed well!” | 21:00<\/p>\n

The decision to leave champion off-spinner Nathan Lyon out of the Brisbane Test was one example, with Michael Neser flourishing in the pink ball match before excelling throughout the remainder of the series.<\/p>\n

The Australians opted to overlook Lyon\u2019s understudy Todd Murphy for both the MCG and SCG Tests and given the amount the ball turned in the latter stages of this match, there was conjecture as to whether Australia made the right call.<\/p>\n

Smith acknowledged the point but defended the decision when pointing to the fact Beau Webster\u2019s contribution with the bat<\/a> in the first innings when making an unbeaten 71 was crucial to Australia\u2019s ability to secure the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019re standing here winning, right? Had we not, there\u2019s obviously maybe a bit to answer for there, potentially, but you know, you\u2019ve got to weigh up how you think the game\u2019s going to pan out,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought the cracks were going to open up quicker than they did, and the rough wasn\u2019t going to be as prevalent as it was. And our batting was obviously really deep, with this guy (Starc) coming in at number 10, (having) scored two crucial 50s throughout the series as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that in this game, that lengthened batting order with Beau ending up coming in at nine after a nightwatchman and getting 70, getting us to that total in the first innings, was crucial. So there\u2019s different points in the game you can look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rampant Starc named player of the series | 03:05<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s stand-in skipper Steve Smith has defended selection chair George Bailey following the furore that unfolded when former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,129295,120044,87445,60167,3567,740,18754,1208,2057,24163,44212,211260,35327,205327,124996,31024,29547,212671,3583,174091,212669,212673,212672,60509,196191,38704,85,5080,35235,212670,211016,89809],"class_list":["post-399487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-opener","tag-backroom-staff","tag-batting-coach","tag-beau-webster","tag-courtney-walsh","tag-cricket","tag-david-warner","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-fast-bowler","tag-george-bailey","tag-james-allsopp","tag-matthew-hayden","tag-michael-di-venuto","tag-michael-neser","tag-mitchell-starc","tag-nathan-lyon","tag-night-watchman","tag-northern-europe","tag-pink-ball-match","tag-proof-criticism","tag-selection-boss","tag-selection-chair","tag-selection-panel","tag-series-defeat","tag-series-win","tag-sports","tag-stand-in-skipper","tag-steve-smith","tag-stinging-critique","tag-stuart-clark","tag-todd-murphy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}