Robert John Bailey (born 28 October 1963) is an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

umpire and former player who appeared in four

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and four

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s from 1985 to 1990.

Playing career

He made his first-class debut for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

in 1982 before being selected to represent

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He played his first

one-day international A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

in Sharjah in 1985, and was called up for a

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut as part of an inexperienced batting line up against the formidable

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

attack of 1988. He did well enough in the match at

the Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

- making what remained his highest Test score in his first innings - and a subsequent one-day international against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

to win selection for the winter tour to India. This trip was however cancelled due to political reasons, as he and several members of the England squad had sporting links to

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

South Africa. His form at the beginning of the 1989 season can only be considered as poor, returning in time for his selection to the 1989–90 West Indies tour. He had in the intervening period specifically passed up the opportunity to participate in the England 1989 Rebel Tour to South Africa, which led to the non-availability of a number of other batters. He was given his first game of the series against the West Indies in the third Test where he bagged a pair. After a shocking decision in the fourth Test, perhaps in part caused by pressure exerted by an appeal by then West Indies captain

Viv Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

, he returned with a well made 42 in Antigua against what was fast, accurate and intimidating bowling. Nevertheless, Bailey failed to reach a half-century in eight Test innings, and after that Antigua match never played for England again, despite his consistent performances of the 1990s. Thanks to a statistical quirk and a couple of not out innings, he retains an unusually high

batting average of 68.50, the third highest of all England batters as of 2022. Bailey is described by

ESPNCricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

as a loyal player and described by Michael Henderson as "one of the finest men to have played county cricket in the past 30 years", testament to his seventeen years at Northamptonshire before he left to join

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

at the end of 1999 after his contract was not renewed by Northants. A highlight of his county career came when he won the

1992 Natwest Trophy The 1992 NatWest Trophy was the 12th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 24 June and 5 September 1992. The tournament was won by Northamptonshire County Cricket Club who defeated Le ...

with Northamptonshire, making 72 not out in the final.

Style

A courageous middle order

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

with a short backlift, Bailey hit the ball extremely hard, with shots all around the ground. Accompanied by this was his ability in the field, and as a part-time off

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Umpiring career

His playing retirement came in 2001 after which he was appointed to join the ECB's Reserve List of

Umpires An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

. Subsequently, he is now on the ECB First Class Umpires list after being promoted for the 2006 season. In January 2018, he was named as one of the seventeen on-field umpires for the

2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2018 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament that was held in New Zealand from 13 January to 3 February 2018. It was the twelfth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the third to be hel ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Rob 1963 births Living people People from Biddulph English cricketers England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Northamptonshire cricket captains Derbyshire cricketers English One Day International cricket umpires English Twenty20 International cricket umpires Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Staffordshire cricketers Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers

Playing career

Style

Umpiring career

See also

References

External links