By the numbers: 62 reasons to smile

South Australia may have fallen short in the Sheffield Shield final, but Chadd Sayers will remember the 2016-17 season for a long time to come.

The Redbacks right-armer finished the summer with 62 wickets next to his name, 12 more than Victorian spinner Jon Holland in second place.

It was the third-highest haul in the long history of the Sheffield Shield, five behind Colin Miller's all-time record of 67 in 1997-98 and just short of Shaun Tait's state mark of 65 set in 2004-05.

In a good omen for the uncapped Sayers, the three other best hauls in a season - by Miller, Tait and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith (60 wickets in 1934-35) - were followed by a Test debut less than six months later.

A further breakdown of the wickets Sayers took is a tribute to the unerring accuracy and nagging length that put him on the cusp of a Test debut during the summer; 59 of his 62 wickets were either bowled, leg before wicket or caught in the cordon between the wicketkeeper and point (one of the catches at point was from a skied top edge).

Only a handful of wickets came via a batsman throwing his wicket away, with most of them a case of Sayers simply being too good and beating the batsman's defence.

Gloveman Alex Carey, who himself had a record-breaking season, claimed 19 catches off Sayers' bowling, including four diving one-handed in front of first slip and two diving down the leg-side.

Tom Cooper was also a handy ally for Sayers in the cordon, taking eight catches predominantly at second slip.

You can watch every single one of Sayers' 62 wickets in the video above and read a full breakdown of his season below.

Chadd Sayers - 2016-17 By The Numbers

M: 10 | W: 62 | Ave: 19.00 | Econ: 2.63 | SR: 43.1 | 5wi: 5 | 10wm: 1 | BB: 7-74

How out

Caught wicketkeeper: 19

Bowled : 13

LBW: 11

Caught other: 19 (2nd slip: 7 | Point: 5 | 1st slip: 2 | Mid-wicket: 2 | 3rd slip: 1 | Gully: 1 | Cover: 1)

Match-by-match

• R1 v WA: 2-51 & 4-57
• R2 v Tas: 6-32 & 5-44
• R3 v Qld: 0-79 & 2-43
• R4 v Vic: 2-81 & 0-59
• R5 v NSW: 3-66 & 5-27
• R6 v WA: 5-68 & 4-64
• R7 v Vic: 4-40 & 4-59
• R8 v Qld: 1-27 & 3-36
• R9 v NSW: 0-97
• R10 v Tas: 2-86 & 2-21
• Final v Vic: 7-84 & 1-57