Former Test star Mike Hussey says George Bailey deserves to keep his place in the Australian side for next month's tour of South Africa.
Hussey knows better than most the challenges of batting in the middle order and believes Bailey hasn't been given enough of a chance to establish himself in the Test arena.
Bailey averaged 26 in his debut series against England, and made just one first-innings 50 at times when Australia needed him to steady the ship.
Hussey will lead a Sydney Thunder side attempting to snap an 18-match losing streak against fellow cellar-dwellers the Hobart Hurricanes in a high-stakes Big Bash League (BBL) clash at Bellerive Oval on Saturday.
However, the veteran of 79 Tests made a point of going into bat for a Tasmanian who is fighting to make the plane to South Africa and see off opposition from Alex Doolan.
"I just think that it's tough for anyone to come into Test match cricket, especially a huge series like that Ashes, and dominate straight away," said Hussey.
"For him to have gone through that experience of such a big series, the selectors have invested this time and effort into him.
"He's an experienced player, a fantastic character, a great guy to have around the team. I think he'll be invaluable.
"If given a good extended run at it, he'll prove his worth to that Australian team."
However, Hussey's most immediate worry isn't as Test selector, but as skipper of the worst performed team in T20 history.
The Thunder competed well in this season's early rounds, despite losing, but in a worrying sign - they were belted off the park in their last start against Brisbane.
"Winning is a habit and we haven't got that at the moment," Hussey said.
"We need to take that jump to get over the line and ... once we do it once hopefully we can get on a roll."
Hobart fast bowler Ben Laughlin admits his team may have cost themselves a finals place by choking against Perth in their last start, and knows they must make amends against the Thunder.
"I reckon that will come back and haunt us but hopefully we can win the next couple and get into the semis," he said.
Hurricanes: Tim Paine (capt), Aiden Blizzard, Travis Birt, Doug Bollinger, Cameron Boyce, Ben Dunk, Evan Gulbis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ben Laughlin, Shoaib Malik, Joe Mennie, Owais Shah, Jon Wells
Thunder: Mike Hussey (capt), Ryan Carters, Usman Khawaja, Blake Dean, Andrew Tye, Jason Floros, Kurtis Patterson, Cameron Borgas, Ajantha Mendis, Dirk Nannes, Gurinder Sandhu, Chris Tremain, Daniel Hughes.
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