Chadd eager to have his say
CRICKET: Chadd Sayers won’t give up on his Rainbow dream, desperate for a crack on South African surfaces where fellow swing merchant Vernon Philander makes the ball sing.
Australian pace trio Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood combined with off-spinner Nathan Lyon in the Ashes series to destroy England and become the third set of four bowlers in Test history to finish a series taking at least 20 wickets each.
However, Sayers is targeting a squad berth for the four-Test series beginning in Durban from March 1.
The Sheffield Shield player of the year is inspired by Philander’s match-winning 6-42 against India in the first Test at Cape Town this week.
“Some grounds there would suit my bowling and we saw Philander get a six-for against India,” said Sayers, who moves the ball both ways bowling an incessant stump-to-stump line like the South African star.
Seamer Jackson Bird (0/108) made no impact filling in for Starc in the Boxing Day Ashes Test while Sayers hopes his 246-wicket first-class record at 23.5 books a ticket to Africa.
“The guys, Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins, did a great job to get through the Ashes. There’s no Shield cricket before they pick the squad so they might pick from the squad that has been around this summer,” said Sayers, who will confront England for the CA XI captained by Matt Renshaw today in Sydney.
“I guess I would be pretty disappointed if I was to miss out on selection but I am not sure how big the squad will be. It is a waiting game.”
Sayers is considered a red ball specialist for South Australia but was picked by national selector Greg Chappell to take on England in today’s warm-up for the one-day series that starts on Sunday in Melbourne.
“I haven’t played a lot of one-day cricket so it is a chance to showcase what I have got,” Sayers said. “It will be a decent England side.”