5. George Bailey
The backbone position of any batting line-up, No. 5 spot has been allotted to Australia’s George Bailey. Many might argue the lockout of AB de Villiers over him on this number but statistics seem to back the Aussie. The technical right batsman as anyone would call Bailey, he has largely lived under the shadow of Warner & Smith in the calendar year, to say the least.
Unlike top four batters, former Baggy Green skipper doesn’t have huge numbers to show-off but certainly got his instrumental innings batting lower down the order to put in-front. From the Tri-series in the West Indies to the bilateral tour to South Africa, Bailey stood on his reputation of playing the role of an anchor than that of a slogger. Flexible yet reliable at the same time, Bailey seems fit to play at this position in the ODI list of the year.