Bailey boosts Canes with speedy knock

The change of captaincy at the Hobart Hurricanes is working wonders for star batsman George Bailey, with the former skipper relishing the opportunity to "be more selfish".

Bailey stood down as captain ahead of the fifth season of the KFC Big Bash League, handing the reins to wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine after three seasons in charge of the men in purple.

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The former national skipper in the game's shortest format has started the tournament in fine fashion with an unbeaten 62 in Hobart's capitulation against the Sydney Sixers on Sunday, followed by a rapid knock of 40 from 21 balls in the bounce-back victory against Brisbane yesterday.

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Bailey believes the opportunity to focus more on his own game is the catalyst behind his strong start to the season.

"You can be a lot more selfish and just rock up and worry about your game," Bailey said of his different role in a chat with cricket.com.au after play.

"You can relax and enjoy it, which has been great.

"I'm really enjoying the role I've been given in the middle.

"I've been given a bit of a license to tee it up and the beauty about tonight was the platform that had been set up by Tim (Paine) and Kumar (Sangakkara)."

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While Hobart's campaign couldn't have started in much worse fashion than the thrashing they received at the SCG, Paine showed he could handle the burden of captaincy with a brilliant 87no to set up the 20-run victory at Blundstone Arena.

Paine has no shortage of help when it comes to leadership, with three former international captains by his side in Bailey, Sri Lanka's Sangakkara and West Indies allrounder Darren Sammy.

"(George) still has ideas and he's still thinking about the game," Paine said after play.

"They've been doing it for that long, they're really enjoying just playing cricket and turning up for training and not having to talk to (the media) so much, not having to talk in the meetings every day.

"(George) has always been a good player for us, but he's certainly enjoying his game at the moment."

While a Christmas spent at home is the immediate item on Bailey's agenda, his blistering start to the T20 competition serves as a timely reminder of what he is capable of leading into the ICC World Twenty20 starting in March next year.

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The 33-year-old hasn't played a T20 international since handing the national captaincy over to Aaron Finch to focus on first-class cricket last summer, but he has again outlined his desire to make a return for the only major tournament in which Australia has never tasted success.

"World Cups are as special as it gets when you're playing for Australia," Bailey said.

"I'd certainly love to be a part of that."

Bailey's solid form in the domestic summer – where he has also scored two centuries in the Sheffield Shield – follows a noticeable change in technique for the middle-order batsman.

A more closed stance now greets the bowler running in after Bailey spent some time in the Australian winter working on his game in his own time.

Bailey could only laugh when asked to divulge on the intricacies behind the technical shift following the win in front of a record crowd for domestic cricket in Tasmania.

"It's a long answer and quite technical," he said with a grin.

"I'm basically just trying to stay more side on. Yeah, we'll keep it simple.

"There's a lot of theory behind it."

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