George Bailey finds form with even weirder batting stance

George Bailey has made another tweak to his already bizarre batting stance, but its paid dividends.

Tasmania posted 353 on Sunday in their Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland, with Bailey reaching his 24th first-class century.

The veteran hit 13 fours and a six in his knock of 109, that comes after he stepped down as Shield captain last month to focus on his batting.

That focus appears to have resulted in an even weirder batting stance.

He still faces towards the covers as the bowler runs in, but has added a funky little step with his back foot before squaring up to the bowler.

“He’s introduced a sort of hokey cokey in this game,” leading cricket writer Gideon Haigh said on Channel 7 on Sunday.

“He puts his right foot in and his right foot out.”

He was out edging to first slip off Mark Steketee, but not before helping bat the Tigers into a commanding position.

Test discards Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne then kept Queensland’s hopes alive.

On a day where Australia’s Test top three fell cheaply against India in Adelaide, Burns (74) and Labuschagne (58 not out) gave a reminder of their credentials.

Burns was bowled by Riley Meredith in the last over of day three on a Bellerive Oval deck that has flattened since 18 wickets fell on day one.

The pair shared a 126-run stand as the Bulls reached 2-164 at stumps in pursuit of a mammoth 414.

Queensland still need another 250 runs to win but Labuschagne said hopes were high in the dressing room.

“Joe batted so well and we were really enjoying it out there. It was devastating to lose him at the end,” Labuschagne said.

“We’ve batted really well on this ground before. There’s a lot of confidence in our shed and if we can do the hard work tomorrow morning it could be a good finish tomorrow afternoon.”

with AAP