George Bailey today stepped down as Australia's Twenty20 captain, saying that he wants to focus on his Test career.
"George Bailey has resigned as Australia's Twenty20 captain, citing a desire to focus on first-class cricket," Cricket Australia said in a statement.
Bailey has handed in his notice as captain of the national Twenty20 team as he eyes a possible return to Test ranks through improved red-ball performances and Australia look to rebuild ahead of the 2016 World Twenty20 in India.
Bailey will sit out of the sole T20 international on Australia's tour of the UAE next month, as well as the three KFC T20s against South Africa in November with a new skipper to be appointed by Cricket Australia in coming weeks.
While that decision will need to be ratified by the CA Board, opening batsman Aaron Finch looms as Bailey's likely replacement given his leadership with Melbourne Renegades in the KFC T20 Big Bash League.
"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," said Bailey, who will lead Tasmania in the upcoming Bupa Sheffield Shield season.
"It's the format I find the most challenging and the format that I get the most enjoyment from - it's where my real passion lies. Whether concentrating on that ends up in me getting back into the Test squad, it doesn't worry me too much. It's just about playing as well as I can."
Bailey, who took over the T20 captaincy from Cameron White in early 2012, has led Australia 27 times for 13 wins and was skipper at the 2012 ICC World T20 (in Sri Lanka) and Australia's disappointing campaign in Bangladesh this year where they failed to progress beyond the group stage.
The 31-year-old will continue to make himself available for T20 selection after the South Africa series and is hopeful of making it to the next World T20 in 2016, but has cited a desire to further his red-ball aspirations as a reason behind his decision announced in Harare today.
