Watson rains on homeboy Bailey's parade

Watson rains on homeboy Bailey's parade

The Farmgate Market, which is a weekly affair in the heart of Hobart, has been a tradition of the city for the last seven years. The simple philosophy of getting to know Tasmanian produce and the farmers makes available every Sunday a variety of produce like cheeses, freshly-plucked fruits and vegetables, berries, meat, nuts, baked breads, coffee and a lot more. Whilst every stall in Bathurst Street was full of buyers, George Bailey stood in line outside a bagel store waiting to pick up his purchase.

Devoid of stardom at that moment, the normalcy in his life was apparent, as he spent time with his family with no obvious attention from the public. Ten hours later, however, he found himself being the centre of attention at the Bellerive Oval on Sunday (January 8) en route a 54-ball 69 with every run that came off his bat being cheered upon when Hobart Hurricanes took on Sydney Thunder.

Bailey, who was dropped from Australia's One-Day International squad that was named for the five-match series against Pakistan, provided the perfect riposte to his detractors. Coming in as early as in the second over after Clint McKay and Pat Cummins struck early to reduce the hosts to 10 for 2, Bailey resurrected the innings slowly, yet steadily, before letting loose to help set Thunder 162 to win, much to the delight of the fans.

With Kumar Sangakkara being left out of the side on the day, he assumed more responsibility being a senior batsman in the side, staying in the middle getting to a run-a-ball 39 at one point. Whilst he had a wee bit of luck up front, his timing on the night was flawless; the shot of the night being a boundary off Cummins that bolted past the bowler in the sixth over. At 100 for 4 after 15 overs, you'd have thought 140 was what Hobart would get, but Bailey unleashed a few aerial shots to ensure a par score.

While it was rather easy to be distracted by the enchanting blue of the River Derwent in the day, the colours of the setting sun did the rest in the evening. However, the Bundstone Arena was set alight by the bombardment of purple from the sell-out crowd. It was the third successive game for which tickets at the venue were sold out with locals making their way to the stadium a few hours prior to the men's game to catch a bit of the Women's Big Bash League game between their home team and Brisbane Heat.

The crowd only grew, closer to the start of the men's game as the general admission area of the lawns was packed to the brim. The Ricky Ponting stand that comprised of seats alternating between grey, light blue and dark blue, to replicate the waves that were visible from the ground before the stand was built, hardly had any vacant seats. However, that crowd of 17,399 had dissipated towards the end as Thunder rained on their purple parade.

Prior to this game, Bailey had only one score of fifty-plus this season, which came against Melbourne Stars just after Christmas, before succeeding scores of 13, 6* and 2. That a fifty came just after he lost his spot in the squad was heartening. But, the greater joy was felt by Thunder, who had never beaten Hurricanes till date in the six times the teams have clashed, and on the day, did it easy with Shane Watson belting a 31-ball 55 after scores of 0, 3 and 3 in the three games he played so far.

"Welcome back, Shane Watson," roared Adam Gilchrist on commentary as Thunder recorded their second win of the tournament after they started their tournament with a string of four losses.