AS greats Brett Lee and Mike Hussey lament Callum Ferguson’s ruthless Test cull, selectors face pressure to stop the mixed messages that undermined former panel chairman Rod Marsh’s reign.
Ferguson spent his 32nd birthday on Monday as the latest hard luck story on Test cricket’s “rollercoaster”.
Ferguson has taken one for the team – axed after two innings including a run-out following Australia’s collective Hobart horror show against South Africa.
“It’s nice to hear words of support from the greats but I will certainly be going out to make hundreds and win games for SA. That’s about all you can do and fight your way back,” Ferguson told The Advertiser.
“I will be fighting for another opportunity. It would have been great to have an impact in Hobart and disappointing to be left out but you don’t want to leave yourself open to it.”
Eleven months on from a second knee reconstruction, “Ferg” had been cruelled by selectors searching for a narrative.
Interim chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said those who excelled in the last Sheffield Shield round were rewarded in a mass shake-up with six changes to Australia’s losing Hobart Test line-up.
Queensland opener Matt Renshaw (108) and Victorian Peter Handscomb (215) excelled and deserved selection but that’s where the logic blurs.
Test call-up and Ferguson’s direct replacement Nic Maddinson failed in both innings of New South Wales’ 198-run loss to Victoria in Sydney.
“Poor Callum Ferguson, one game, he’s played one Test, everyone else missed out, it’s not like he’s made a serious error in judgment in not getting runs but you’ve gotta feel for him and also for Joe Mennie,” said Lee told Triple M with South Australians Mennie and Ferguson both cut after one Test.
Maddinson, 24, has eight first-class tons in 59 games at an average of 37 – plucked on a hunch. Maddinson is a natural talent but has averaged over 50 once in six seasons due to seductive though streaky strokeplay which is at odds with Australia’s new fighting doctrine.
Ferguson has averaged 50 over the past three first-class seasons and made a pink ball ton against Western Australia in Perth last month while Maddinson averages 16 under day night conditions.
However Ferguson wished Maddinson well, adding “I have to worry about my own backyard.”
Lee noted Ferguson had “certainly earned his stripes” like Hussey over “a good 10 or 11 years of Sheffield Shield cricket”.
Warner hit where it hurts
0:28Hussey agreed it was a “very tough call” on Ferguson and Mennie when “given one opportunity”.
Ferguson and Test call up Chadd Sayers simultaneously learnt they would be trading places in the baggy green while roommates in SA’s clash against Queensland on Sunday.
“You couldn’t write the script. We are great mates, you are over the moon for the bloke. I had a chance and he will now get one hopefully,” self-less Ferguson said.
Marsh’s panel took heat over Brad Haddin’s Ashes exit in 2015 and decision not to pick Peter Siddle until the final Test at The Oval. Allrounder Mitch Marsh’s golden run also raised eyebrows while Mennie’s selection on batting grounds ahead of Jackson Bird in Hobart made more headlines.
