George Bailey thriving as Australia's mid-innings bomber in new fangled Test role George Bailey thrashes Jimmy Anderson in a record breaking over. GEORGE Bailey can take it to the grave he was a bigger hitter than Don Bradman. The crazy game called cricket has changed so much since Don's day that big hitting Bailey has now hit eight sixes in his three Tests, two more than Bradman managed in his 52 Test career. Yes, yes, we know that bats are heavier and boundaries closer and the Don's key mantra was "if you hit the ball along the ground you cannot be caught." But it still shows how much brute force has come into the modern game. The Tasmanian, who equalled Brian Lara's world record of 28 runs in an over on Monday by slaughtering Jimmy Anderson, is being encouraged to play the quirky role of mid-innings "bomber" to challenge rival attacks when they are tiring. Some say this is very much a new age selection theory and a nod to the short forms of the game. Others claim it's just a throwback to Doug Walters. The spirit is cricket is not quite dead but it is on life support. One of cricket's most longstanding traditions is the players applaud a rival's century no matter what they think of him or how fortunate he was. Yet half of England's team failed to offer a single clap for Shane Watson's rampaging century on Monday. Not a good look. They are not bad, the Poms. John Etheridge from the London Sun insists Australia should not get too excited at retaining the Ashes because, in his view, it's a 10-Test contest spanning two series including the recent bout in England. "The scoreline is about to be 3-3 - it's getting exciting isn't it ... should be a great finish," Etheridge quipped on Monday. This series is not just about the Ashes - it's about gaining a significant historical edge. Before this series Australia and England had won 31 series apiece, with five drawn. Australia will move ahead but the tightness of the scoreline says everything about the majesty of the historical fight for the urn. Long live cracked wickets. Discussions over the cracks on the WACA wicket have got so intense over the last few days that you would swear a batsmen had been swallowed whole. It was far from that. Only a handful of balls struck them. Deteriorating wickets and the discussions they trigger are great for the game for they add a layer of precious theatre. This wicket is not as cracked as some of the old WACA decks of the 90s including one with cracks so wide Geoff Marsh made his bat stand up in one for a photo. Nothing stirs Australian sports fans like the sight of the Poms being beaten up in the Ashes. Sunday's cricket broadcast had a peak audience of 2.8 million for Channel Nine which is a bumper result. England's Ashes debacle has spoilt the Christmases of thousands of their intrepid fans. A mini-migration will take place this week when plane loads of fans from England arrive for the Melbourne-Sydney Tests. Cheering for the Ashes is one thing but cheering to avoid a whitewash is quite another. Former English tabloid editor turned US talk show host Piers Morgan tweeted his annoyance at buying 10 flights, 20 match tickets and four hotel rooms ... for nothing. IF Australian cricket could have one wish it would be that Ryan Harris could be 24 not 34. Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin will justifiably jostle for man of the series honours but Harris' subtle skills have presented Australia with breakthroughs just when they needed them. Under all conditions against batsman ranging from the world's elite to the scrambling tailender, from his first ball of the day to the last, he remains a potent threat. Given that he has spent much of the series in the shadow of others it was a magnificent moment for Harris to bowl perhaps the best delivery of his career first ball of the English innings against Alastair Cook. As Cook walked off people were discussing whether he was mentally fried but there is no coaching manual which could teach a batsman how to play the wicked inswinging, away seaming gem which rattled Cook's stumps and took his series return to 12 wickets at 18.