Bailey on radar for India tour: Marsh

George Bailey's state coach Dan Marsh says the Tasmanian is ready for another crack at Test cricket and has the prowess against spin to suit Australia's proposed "horses for courses" selection policy for next year's tour of India.

Less than six months out from Australia's return to the subcontinent, mystery surrounds the potential make-up of the Test squad following their heavy 3-0 series defeat to Sri Lanka last month, which extended Australia's losing streak in Asian conditions to nine Tests.

The ongoing review of the Sri Lanka series is expected to shake up preparations for the four Tests in India in February and March, with Cricket Australia's head of High Performance Pat Howard forecasting a spin-focused selection "that might mean some players play really well during the (Australian) summer and don't go to India."

Quick Single: Howards hints change in subcontinental tact

And Bailey, whose only five Tests to date came in the triumphant Ashes whitewash of 2013-14, has pushed his case for a recall with consecutive match-winning performances in the One-Day International series against Sri Lanka this week.

The right-hander's double of 70 and 90no in the third and fourth ODIs on the sharp-turning surface of Dambulla underlined his ability in conditions, albeit in 50-over cricket, that proved so alien to the country's best batsmen during the recent Test series.

His 226 runs in the four ODIs to date has seen his one-day average balloon to 62.14 from 17 innings in Asia, including seven scores of more than 50.

And Tasmanian Tigers coach Marsh says Bailey's experience in the subcontinent, which includes multiple stints in the Indian Premier League, would put him near the top of the list of potential inclusions for the India tour.

"If they're looking for someone who can play spin well in the subcontinent, I'm sure he's got his name up there," Marsh, the former Tasmania captain and son of National Selector Rod Marsh, told cricket.com.au.

"He will just have to back this up and ... continue his good form in Shield cricket, as he did last year, to get his name up there.

"I think the lessons he would have learnt from his first five Tests, he's a smart enough bloke that he would carry those on into the sixth, seventh and eighth Test he plays.

"That's what driving George. He wants to play Test cricket again. It's the ultimate test and he wants to get back there."

The standout feature of Bailey's performances in Sri Lanka has been his willingness and ability to use the sweep shot, both conventional and reverse, to unsettle the home side's spinners and rotate the strike.

It's a method that was largely absent when the Australians batted during the Test series, while the home side's batsmen used the conventional sweep shot to great effect throughout the three Tests.

Speaking after his man-of-the-match performance in the third ODI, Bailey spoke of the "great thrill" he gets from adapting his game to unfamiliar conditions and "coming up with different ways to combat the different things that are thrown at you".

Marsh applauded Bailey for developing an effective game plan to counter the home side's spinners, a mantra preached by Test skipper Steve Smith throughout and after the Test series.

And the coach is confident Bailey's method could also hold up in the longest form of the game, when the presence of multiple fielders around the bat only adds to the higher intensity of Test cricket.

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"I can't see why not," Marsh said.

"If you look at the way the Sri Lankans played our spinners, they certainly swept a lot and very effectively.

"He would have gone in with a game plan over there after watching the Test series that he was going to have to do some sweeping.

"I know he ramped that up closer to the time. The best thing about it is he's gone there with a plan, he's stuck to it and it’s working."

Bailey came to Sri Lanka following a brief and successful first-class stint at English county Middlesex, where he scored a century and two fifties in just five innings, continuing his good form from the last Sheffield Shield season, when he finished as the fourth-highest run-scorer with three centuries and three fifties in nine matches.

At 33, Bailey is nearer the end of his career than the beginning but has been buoyed by the recent promotion of Chris Rogers and Adam Voges into the Test side at the age of 35 after being on the outer for most of their long domestic careers.

And the likeable Tasmanian also joked last week that he has at least six years of international cricket in front of him having watched Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan call time on his career earlier this week at the tender age of 39.

"A lot of people were stoked to see Vogesy picked after the enormous amount of runs (he scored) and to see him do well at his age," Bailey told cricket.com.au during the Qantas ODI Tour of the Caribbean in June.

"And Bucky Rogers (also) just proved that age isn't a barrier.

"It comes up a lot ... in professional sport, the push to try and get younger players in. But the way we train and the way we prepare, I think a guy in his mid-30s is probably about the same as a guy who was 30 (years old) 10 or 15 years ago.

"So hopefully there's plenty of good cricket left."