Sayers out to send message to selectors

After failing to separate Australia’s leading trio of pacemen, West End Redbacks swing bowler Chadd Sayers will be aiming to send another message to national selectors when South Australia takes on Queensland in the latest round of the JLT Sheffield Shield.

Sayers was included in Australia’s 13-man squad for the first two Magellan Ashes Tests, with his long list of noteworthy performances at Adelaide Oval and proficiency with the pink ball working in his favour.

But the 30-year-old was overlooked for a Test debut, the hosts preferring to stick with Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins after they roughed up England in a 10-wicket victory in Brisbane.

Their hostile bowling was a feature of the Gabba win, with the short-pitched assault in the second innings playing a key role in the success, while off-spinner Nathan Lyon was also outstanding.

South Australia batsman Callum Ferguson, who played his one and only Test against South Africa last year in Hobart, said it was “bittersweet” to have Sayers in the team for the four-day match in Cairns, which starts on Sunday.

“He certainly comes back disappointed, as you can imagine, but it certainly makes him hungrier generally,” Ferguson said on Adelaide radio station FIVEaa.

“If you look back at his last couple of years he hasn’t had too many down games, so I’m expecting nothing different.

“He’s a super professional and he’ll be looking to bounce back and prove a few people wrong.”

Sayers was in line to make his first appearance at the top level in the corresponding Test against South Africa last year before Jackson Bird was preferred and snared three wickers in Australia’s win.

The right-armer put his name up in lights with 62 Shield wickets in 2016-17, putting him 12 ahead of Victoria’s Jon Holland.

Sayers has 14 wickets from three matches this summer at 25.07 apiece, while his career first-class record – 243 wickets from 58 matches at 23.55 – also makes for impressive reading.

He and fellow paceman Joe Mennie will both play their 50th Sheffield Shield match for the Redbacks this week.

The milestone duo is likely to have plenty of work to do, with quicks Kane Richardson and Daniel Worrall sidelined because of injury.

And the conditions in Cairns could suit Sayers, according to Ferguson.

“Generally, it’s a little bit humid so the ball can swing around a little bit” he said.

“When you get to these types of grounds where there’s not a lot of first-class cricket played, the curators are generally pretty conservative so it rolls out pretty flat and it can tend to break up a bit late because they keep it a bit dry.

“He’ll (Sayers) give us a big boost in the bowling department and I think he’ll enjoy the humidity up here.”

On Thursday, before Australia’s unchanged XI was finalised, Sayers was hopeful of some good news but realistic the proven performers were fit and ready to fire.

"I assume if the big three quicks are fit then they'll get the nod," he said.

"All I can do is train the house down and perform in Shield cricket, and I think I've done that over the past two or three years."