Ferguson shocked to be axed from Shield opener

Callum Ferguson has known his share of setbacks across 18 seasons in top-flight cricket, but he admits this week has thrown him some uniquely difficult challenges.

Ferguson learned a few days ago he was not part of South Australia's starting XI for today's opening match of the Marsh Sheffield Shield season against Western Australia despite holding down the pivotal number-three role for most of last summer.

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And the 35-year-old was then forced to miss the West End Redbacks' final pre-season training session yesterday after his wife, Rhiannon, woke that morning with a sore throat and – under strict coronavirus protocols – he was forced to isolate in the couple's home until her COVID test results were confirmed.

Having received the all-clear, he joined his squad mates in the warm-up for today's season opener at Karen Rolton Oval, but given the absence of second XI fixtures this season and with Adelaide's Premier Cricket not scheduled to begin until October 24 he will be running drinks for the immediate future.

"It came as a bit of a shock," Ferguson told cricket.com.au.

"I had the spot at the end of last season, played some good cricket, came second in the Dansie Medal (SA men's cricket's highest individual honour) and then played well in the pre-season.

"I did some work on my game and felt like that shone through in some pretty difficult batting conditions in the four innings I had in the recent trial games.

"I had two big contributions, then it probably came out of nowhere a bit.

"It's disappointing because I am really keen for the summer and I'm in good shape, and you get really excited and amped up and ready to go so it was pretty flattening to get the news."

Ferguson is the second-oldest player in Shield ranks behind WA's stand-in skipper Shaun Marsh (36) and needs just six more appearances to equal former Test all-rounder Peter Sleep's record of 127 Shield caps for SA.

He is currently the state's fifth-highest Shield runs scorer with 8,141 behind Darren Lehmann (11,622), Greg Blewett (9,682), David Hookes (9,364) and Les Favell (8,269).

Ferguson has twice been forced out of cricket for a year due to serious knee injuries – the first in 2009 after he had established himself in the middle-order of Australia's ODI team – and had his Test career ended after one game in a purge that followed Australia's 2016 home series defeat to South Africa.

It's also not the first time the right-hander has been dropped from the SA line-up in the recent past.

He was left out of the Redbacks team for the last two matches of the 2018-19 season and not recalled until round three of last season's campaign, from which point he was SA's second-highest Shield runs scorer with 451 at 32.21 behind opener Jake Weatherald.

However, it was his returns in the first innings of those seven matches – 115 at 16.43 with a highest score of 44 – that led SA's new chair of selectors James Pyke to instigate changes with inexperienced Brad Davis listed to bat at three against WA.

Davis scored an unbeaten 149 in the Redbacks recent internal trial at Rolton Oval, and SA opted to play Australia under-19 all-rounder Liam Scott in the middle-order along with skipper Travis Head and veteran Tom Cooper.

SA has finished bottom of the Shield ladder for the past three seasons, a result that prompted a wide-ranging review conducted by ex-Test batter Michael Hussey which recommended changes in selection including the appointment of an independent chair.

"He gave me a little bit of feedback," Ferguson said of his conversation with Pyke this week.

"He said he felt like my results in the first innings weren't what they'd hoped, and they weren't what I hoped for and I'm always wanting to be better and I'm hungry for runs.

"He said 'we felt like we wanted to go in a different direction' so I walked away from it probably not crystal clear, but you never really are when you get left out of a side."

But if Ferguson, who made his sole Test appearance at Hobart in 2016 and has also played 30 ODIs and three T20Is for Australia, needed reminding of how quickly opportunities can arise amid the current pandemic, it came starkly to him yesterday morning.

While driving to Redbacks training he spoke with Rhiannon who reported her symptoms, which were then relayed to SA's sports medicine manager and team doctor who advised Ferguson not to get out of his car at Karen Rolton Oval.

Upon completing the players' daily online health report that includes questions about the condition of others in the household, he was instructed to return home and isolate in a separate room away from his wife and three-month-old daughter, Layla.

He was then sweating on Rhiannon's COVID19 test results to ensure he was at the ground and ready for the start of today's game, in case similar circumstances meant a member of the Redbacks playing XI was a last-minute withdrawal.

His domestic quarantine experience highlights the protocols in place for the SA players who are living in their own homes rather than hotel 'bubbles' for the first month of Shield competition, but who still face stringent health measures.

Ferguson spoke last year of his "desperate" wish to be part of an SA Shield-winning outfit – a title that has eluded the Redbacks since their 1995-96 triumph – and is already plotting his return to the first XI.

"I feel like it's an opportunity for me to re-set and go again," Ferguson said.

"I'm bitterly disappointed, but as a long-term cricket professional I'm always looking to find ways to get better.

"I'm already desperately keen for my next opportunity and I'll grind out on the training track over the next period of time until I get that opportunity, and make sure I'm ready to take it with both hands.

"I see myself as a one-to-six player and somebody who gives flexibility to cricket teams.

"I'm probably a natural four or five, but I was really proud of being able to nail down number three for a long time and made a few changes to my game that would allow me to be successful there.

"I spoke to a lot of other new-ball players in doing that, and while the last 18 months probably wasn't my best, I feel like I've still got a lot to contribute, wherever it is in the top six."