The curtain has been drawn on Australian Test cricket's Shane Watson era, but George Bailey believes the future of Mitch Marsh and James Faulkner leaves them in incredible shape.
Admitting he didn't have the fire in the belly anymore, and sensing a hard road back into the Test team with a bulging young crew of promising allrounders, Watson hung up the boots on Sunday in London.
While Watson had fallen by the wayside by the end of Australia's failed Ashes campaign, having been dropped following the opening Test defeat in Cardiff, his exit still leaves an enormous gap - both in terms of experience and ability.
After stepping into Watson's shoes during the Ashes, 23-year-old Marsh showed enough with both bat and, in particular, ball to suggest he is the long-term successor.
He has since produced two important and contrasting knocks to help Australia win the opening two matches in the one-day series.
If his grafting support role in Southampton, in which he scored an unbeaten 40 as part of a match-winning 112-run partnership with Matthew Wade, showed Marsh's ability to knuckle down, his Lord's blitz reminded everyone of the West Australian's brutal hitting power.
"(Marsh's Southampton innings) was really mature, and the flipside of that is when he's seeing the ball a touch better, like he was (on Saturday), he's crunching it," said Bailey, speaking prior to Watson's announcement on Sunday.
"He's getting more and more confident with his body in terms of the way he bowls the ball - he takes key wickets for us - so he's becoming a really complete cricketer for us.
"He's a good thinker about the game and he's going to be a great leader."
Faulkner played his one and only Test to date alongside Watson during the 2013 Ashes, but his role as the finisher in the one-day format has made him one of Australia's first-picked when fit.
Marsh and Faulkner, 25, are both more than capable seam-bowling options with the potential to push the speedo past 140km/h and bat in the middle order.
"As far as the two of them go, how exciting would it be if they can be playing in the same team in all formats?" Bailey mused.
"I think, going forward, that's going to be a great option.
"The challenge is laid down to Jimmy. I'm sure the selectors want a few more runs from him, to show that he can find a way to bat somewhere in that top six or seven.
"Certainly his bowling is good enough (for Tests), and for one-day and Twenty20 he fits in both of them comfortably."
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