Sayers sets sights on Ashes berth

Chadd Sayers, the South Australian spearhead, naturally was feeling excited after his painstaking toil and continual excellence in the Sheffield Shield appeared to have been rewarded in the best possible fashion.

After the Australian selectors savagely wielded the axe following an embarrassing loss against South Africa in Hobart last November, Sayers seemed poised to make his Test debut on his home ground of the Adelaide Oval. A menacing swing bowler, Sayers appeared the logical choice to replace dumped quick Joe Mennie for the pink ball third Test against South Africa.

Speculation was rife that Sayers was going to be handed a Baggygreen but selectors went with reliable quick Jackson Bird in an agonising decision. "Rumours were going around and I thought I was in line (for selection)," Sayers recalls to Cricbuzz. "It was a flip of a coin decision and selectors went with Bird, who is a very good bowler and performed well. That's sport."

Bird, a probing bowler much like Sayers, did enough in Adelaide to hold his spot for the next two Tests against Pakistan and earned selection for the subsequent tour of India. Conversely, things could have been much different for Sayers had he played in Adelaide but the often overlooked bowler plied away at the domestic level, where he continually eviscerated batting lineups in an utterly dominant Sheffield Season yielding 62 wickets.

His haul was 12 more than second-placed Jon Holland and just five shy of the Shield record set by former Australian Test spinner Colin Miller in 1997-98. Fittingly,