Michael John Bailey (born 1 August 1954) is an English former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. Bailey was born at

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

in August 1954. He made his debut in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

against

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

in the

1979 County Championship The 1979 Schweppes County Championship was the 80th officially organised running of the County Championship. Essex won their first Championship title. Ten matches were abandoned without a ball being bowled and are not included in the table. The ...

. He played first-class cricket for Hampshire until 1982, making twenty appearances. Playing principally as a right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

bowler, Bailey took 18 wickets at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 55.33; he took one

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Taking ...

, with figures of 5 for 89 against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

in 1980. He scored 228 runs with the bat at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 11.40, with a highest score of 24. He was noted by Robin Smith, who joined Hampshire in Bailey's final season with the county, as the dressing-room joker in the Hampshire team. After leaving Hampshire at the end of the 1982 season, he played

minor counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

in 1983 and 1984, making six appearances in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

and three in the

MCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

. It was for Wiltshire that Bailey made his debut in List A one-day cricket, against Northamptonshire at

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

in the

1983 NatWest Trophy The 1983 NatWest Trophy was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 29 June and 3 September 1983. The third NatWest Trophy competition, it was won by Somerset who defeated Kent by 24 runs in the final at Lord's. ...

, with a second one-day appearance coming against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

in the

1984 NatWest Trophy The 1984 NatWest Trophy was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 4 July and 1 September 1984. The fourth NatWest Trophy tournament, it was won by Middlesex who defeated Kent by 4 wickets in the final at Lord's ...

. He returned to minor counties cricket almost a decade later to play for

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

in their first season in the Minor Counties Championship in 1992. He played minor counties cricket for Herefordshire until 1997, making 27 appearances in the Minor Counties Championship and two appearances in the MCCA Knockout Trophy. By July 2017, he stood as Herefordshire's third-leading wicket-taker in the Minor Counties Championship with 81, behind Kevin Cooper (221) and

Paul Humphries Paul Jonathan Humphries (born 20 October 1965) is a former English cricketer. Humphries was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm fast-medium. He was born at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. Hughes made his debut for Herefordshire in the ...

(102). Bailey also made a single one-day appearance for Herefordshire against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

in the

1995 NatWest Trophy The 1995 NatWest Trophy was the 15th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 27 June and 2 September 1995. The tournament was won by Warwickshire County Cricket Club who defeated Northampt ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Michael 1954 births Living people English cricketers Hampshire cricketers Herefordshire cricketers Wiltshire cricketers Cricketers from Cheltenham 20th-century English sportsmen