Sayers' pointed reminder for Smith

Chadd Sayers may have been guilty of celebrating a little too vociferously with his first wicket of the new JLT Sheffield Shield season, but why not when you've just trapped the Australia captain plumb leg before.

Sayers claimed Steve Smith's wicket from the seventh ball he'd bowled at the Test skipper, rapping him on the front leg with a ball arrowing in towards leg stump as Smith missed on a shot into the leg side.

The 30-year-old right armer, last season's leading Shield wicket-taker with 62 scalps, celebrated with gusto, a fierce pump of the fist and roar as Smith trudged back to the dressing room.

"It was nice to get a couple decent wickets, especially Steve Smith to show him the stuff I have to offer I guess," Sayers said today.

"You've got to play hard against him and show him what you've got.

"To get him out like I did was good for my prospects of playing Test cricket.

"He's only the captain, not a selector, so it was nothing personal, he's a great bloke and I get along with him well."

To further underline his Test credentials, Sayers added the wickets of Kurtis Patterson, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins in the first innings, all bowled with good movement off the seam, while Nic Maddinson and Patterson again fell to him in the second dig, both leg before.

"I want to play at the highest level I can, and the next level up is Australia," Sayers said.

"I've just got to keep putting my best foot forward and putting performances on the board for South Australia and trying to win games."

Sayers is a realist and knows his chances of playing the opening Magellan Ashes Test are all but non-existent but in a tough five-Test series, there's every chance there could be changes to the bowling line-up.

"I know the big three quicks are going to get the first crack at it. I'm just going to keep putting performances on the board, help South Australia win and be fit and firing if the opportunity comes," Sayers said.

"I'd like to think that I'd be in the mix of one or two (next quicks in line)."

There was outrage in South Australia last year when Sayers was overlooked for Jackson Bird for the Adelaide day-night Test against South Africa.

Bird took three wickets in a match Australia won by seven wickets, and the pair could again be locked in a battle to be the back-up this summer, although who gets the nod could well depend on who – if any, of course – of the first choice quicks goes down.

Bird also took six wickets for Tasmania in their Shield opener against Western Australia at the WACA, 4-61 in the first innings and 2-85 in the second in a match the Warrirors won by 301 runs.

Sayers was today named in an unchanged Redbacks squad to face Victoria at the MCG from Saturday, while Tasmania will host Queensland at Blundstone Arena. 

Every match of the JLT Sheffield Shield will be streamed live on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app