If George Bailey was hurting, he wasn’t giving away even the slightest hint.

Forced to share the elation of winning his first major international personal award – Australia’s ODI Player of the Year – with the despair of being axed from the Test team, Bailey showed the level of class his batting so tantalisingly hinted at but failed to deliver during the summer.

In the course of one good-humoured, insightful media conference he was able to illustrate just why he was so warmly welcomed into the Australia dressing room during his debut Ashes series, and why his new team-mates genuinely mourn his absence from the coming tour to South Africa.

“I guess I’ve had the news for a bit longer than most so I’ve been able to deal with it in my own time,” Bailey said when asked to explain his feelings. “And to be honest, I was more hoping than expecting to be on the tour.

“I think I was a beneficiary of the fact that we were winning those Tests, and as a batsman I think you're judged on setting games up and getting big runs in first innings.

“I would have liked to have contributed more, and if I had done that then it would have been an expectation to be on that flight as opposed to a hope.

“So I can’t really fault it (the selectors’ decision).”

His pragmatic assessment of his lack of success across five Tests – just one half-century and a handful of false starts – was tinged with the silver lining of what he had gleaned along the journey.

At 31 he knows it’s unlikely that the chance to add to his Test record – five matches for as many wins – will come his way.

But he’s not about to wave the white flag and instead aims to take what he’s learned from his sojourn and make himself an even better player.

“I leaned a hell of a lot about my game, which is really exciting to get to my age and still discover that you’ve got so much more to learn,” Bailey said. “It’s reinvigorated me in a lot of ways.

“I had a really good chat with 'Boof' (coach Darren Lehmann) yesterday during the one-day game, and I think I’ve got some things to work on against good quality fast bowling - which at times in my career I’ve dealt with quite well, but I think I’ve got into some bad habits playing a lot of short-form cricket.

“I just need to go away and work out how to get rid of those and then work out how to adapt really quickly, which is something you see 'Pup' (Clarke) and Steve Smith do really well, and that’s where I need to get to.”

He doesn’t need to look far for motivation.

The feeling he enjoyed celebrating in the middle, singing the team victory song, being part of rare Ashes history will always be with him.

The trouble is, it has only made him crave more.

“I think the reason we play, certainly at my stage, is to play for Australia," he said. "And I’ll tell you what, if those five Tests weren’t the most addictive thing to be a part of and to get back and feel that once again, then I don’t think I’ve ever had a greater motivation.

“I think I said at the start of the (Ashes) series that at 31 you probably only get one crack at it, but I’m hoping now to prove myself wrong.”

At least he can count on the influential support of his skipper, who sung Bailey’s praises loud and glowingly when asked his response to the news that he won’t be leading his No.6 batsman of the Ashes whitewash on the African campaign.

“Bails is a great example of someone that probably didn’t perform as well as he would have liked personally throughout the Ashes series, but I can’t tell you the benefit of having him around the group, his leadership on and off the field, and his attitude,” Clarke said.

“And that takes more courage and character than when you’re making hundreds or taking five-fors, to be able to give so much back to the team when you’re not performing personally.

“I think that’s the most under-rated thing in sport, and I think that’s why the whole team feels for him that he’s not coming to South Africa with us.”