George Bailey: Sussex sign former Australia captain for T20

Bailey played one game for Australia at the Cricket World Cup, scoring 55 against England

Sussex have signed former Australia Twenty20 captain George Bailey for the second half of the T20 Blast campaign.

The 32-year-old top-order batsman will be available the final seven games of the tournament and will also be eligible to play in the One-Day Cup.

Tasmanian-born Bailey has played five Tests, 28 T20Is and 57 one-day international matches for Australia.

"He brings leadership, experience and is a proven one-day player," cricket manager Mark Robinson told BBC Sussex.

Bailey, who stepped down as Australia's T20 skipper in September 2014 and was replaced by Aaron Finch, has scored 470 runs at an average of 26.11 in his international T20 appearances.

He had a spell with Hampshire in 2013 and has scored 2,039 runs at 29.12 over the course of his T20 career.

The right-hander, who is currently captaining Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, will join Sussex mid-way through the group stage, replacing Mahela Jayawardene as the county's overseas player.

"We hope, in the same way as Jayawardene, that we have got a player that will add to the dressing room and give more than just his performance," Robinson added.

"George was someone we targeted and it was just about making sure everything fitted. With the increasing doubt over Matt Prior, the priority became to sign a batsman."