Four contenders to replace Bailey

Regardless of the captaincy debate, Australia is a batsman short for their next Carlton Mid ODI Tri-Series engagement following the suspension of George Bailey.

Bailey was punished by the International Cricket Council for Australia being an over short in Sunday's victory against India at the MCG and, following on from the same offence in an ODI against South Africa in November, he has been suspended for Friday's match against England in front of his home-town fans at Hobart.

While Test incumbent Steve Smith, veteran Brad Haddin and T20 skipper Aaron Finch are all in the running for the job in the absence of Bailey and the recovering Michael Clarke, selectors must first choose a batsman to fill the side.

It's not a straightforward choice. The bowlers have rotated through and plenty of allrounders have been trialled, but Australia's batting line-up has long been fairly settled. In fact, the only change over the past 12 months has been the emergence of Smith as a permanent fixture, the beneficiary of Clarke's troublesome hamstrings.

Adding further intrigue to the selection will be Bupa Support Team head coach Darren Lehmann's thinly-veiled admission the batsman picked would be Clarke's ICC Cricket World Cup replacement should he not hit his February 21 deadline.

Here's a look at some of the contenders to replace Bailey in Hobart

Shaun Marsh

Shaun Marsh was recalled to Australia's Test side when Michael Clarke was ruled out of the Commonwealth Bank Test Series against India through injury.

It may then seem natural he is recalled to the one-day squad to replace Bailey.

Marsh impressed at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test before running himself out on 99 and has a firm supporter in Lehmann – who is also a national selector.

However, Marsh also has notoriously fickle hamstrings and is also still recovering from elbow surgery last year that still limits his throwing capacity.

Chris Lynn

The Queenslander is a gun batsman, outstanding fieldsman and potential star of the future, but could his time be now?

Lynn has made his name in Twenty20 cricket so far, setting the Indian Premier League alight with some big hitting and stunning catching with last years' champions, the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The Brisbane Heat big-hitter is the 2014-15 KFC T20 Big Bash League's leading Australian run-scorer (Kevin Pietersen sits above him). In eight innings Lynn has hit 243 runs at 30.37 with a strike rate of 148.17 and a high score of 81.

He played in last winter's Australia A quadrangular series in Darwin but a call-up here would be his ODI debut. He played two T20s for Australia last summer against England, smacking three sixes in his only innings for an unbeaten 33.

Cameron White

The Victorian has been on the periphery of Australia's one-day team for several years now.

He has not played an ODI since April 2011 but his name continually comes up in squad selection discussions such is the strength and consistency of his performances.

White was named player of the tournament for the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup – his second successive such award – and was last year's Domestic Player of the Year award winner at the Allan Border Medal ceremony.

The 31-year-old showed a calm head and steady hand in hitting an unbeaten 41 batting at number six to clinch a series victory over South Africa in the November T20 series and has helped steer the Melbourne Stars from a horror start into the BBL|04 semi-finals.

Callum Ferguson

Since recuperating from a serious knee injury during the 2009 Champions Trophy final in South Africa, South Australia's Callum Ferguson has been fighting to get a look-in with the Australia set-up again.

He burst onto the scene in 2009, and had averaged 46.07 in 25 ODIs before his injury. He has played five ODIs since, but none since April 2011, the same series in Bangladesh when White was last sighted in the national 50-over team.

He's been a consistent performer in domestic cricket, averaging 56.50 in the 2013-14 Bupa Sheffield Shield and was averaging 54.57 in the current season before the break for BBL|04. He joined the Melbourne Renegades for this season of the Big Bash and has been averaging 23.57 with a high score of 40 from eight matches.