George Bailey has confirmed he won't become involved in a vote if it comes to it over Tim Paine's place in the Ashes squad.
The Australian chief selector Bailey is only recently retired and shared a dressing room with Paine for many years at Tasmania, Australia and the Hobart Hurricanes.
While the appointment of Bailey as chief selector was one which was widely praised, the problem of him being so recently retired and calling many current players teammates has finally bitten Australian cricket on the eve of its biggest series.
Of course, this problem would never have come up had Tim Paine's off-field scandal not been revealed.
Paine has already lost the captaincy, and now stands at risk of losing his spot in the Ashes squad, should the selection panel go that way.
The Australian Cricket Association boss Todd Greenberg has said Paine's position in the Ashes must not be changed because of the off-field issue, which occurred four years ago ahead of the last home Ashes series.
But Bailey said if it comes to a vote he would step aside.
“If the panel was not in agreeance with Tim’s position going forward and it was going to come down to a vote, then I would step aside and leave that to Tony (Dodemaide) and Justin (Langer) to work through,” Bailey told The Australian’s Cricket Et Cetera podcast.
“They’re both aware of that.
“If the panel was not in agreeance with Tim’s position going forward and it was going to come down to a vote, then I would step aside and leave that to Tony (Dodemaide) and Justin (Langer) to work through,” Bailey told The Australian’s Cricket Et Cetera podcast. “They’re both aware of that.
“I have strong friendships and relationships that go back years with a number of players. I guess that can be viewed a number of ways. There could be a tendency to go easier or vice versa and you could be harder on those players at times.
“I truly believe having strong relationships with the players I doubly make sure to do the job to the best of my ability and I understand that the decisions we make have large ramifications both positive and negative both for the players and their families, their livelihoods and their careers. It’s not something taken lightly and we put the work in because of that to make sure we try and make the best decision we can whether it is with Tim or with anyone.”
While Bailey has already dealt with conflict of interests in selection decisions on former teammates, this stands as the toughest one yet.
Paine has captained Australia through one of the nation's most tumultuous periods in its history on the cricket field, following the fall-out from the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
That saw Steve Smith stood down and banned from leading the country for 12 months following his return, while David Warner and Cameron Bancroft also copped lengthy bans, with Warner never allowed to hold a leadership position within Australian cricket again.
But his teary press conference last week announcing his decision to stand down as captain of the Australian team opened a new line of thinking.
It has been a widely held belief among fans that Paine's form doesn't warrant a spot in the team - rather, it was his captaincy keeping him in the Australian set up.
With Paine likely to retire at the end of the summer from international cricket, it now comes down to whether his batting and wicket-keeping is good enough to stay in the team on merit alone.
The short answer seems to be no, given he hasn't scored a Test century in 57 attempts - and yes, he bats at seven - but there are few top seven batsmen in world cricket who would have played as many innings without a single century.
A technical wicket-keeper he may be, but Australia have other options to fill that void who will undoubtedly add more with the bat, including the two listed in the Australia A squad to play a warm up match against the Aussies next week in Alex Carey and Josh Inglis.
The duo are effectively squabbling over the spot that will eventually be vacated by Paine, but the question remains - when will that spot be vacated?
It's an impossibility for fans to take a guess at whether the former captain - who returned from neck injury in a Tasmanian second XI on Monday - will be there for the first Test.
The only thing we can know for sure is that George Bailey should be the one making the decision.
And if he can't put his conflict of interest aside to make a proper decision for the good of the country, then it may be time for Cricket Australia to revisit their policy on what the requirements should be of a chief selector.
