A brilliant Chadd Sayers spell sparked a dramatic Western Australia batting collapse on Saturday at the WACA Ground to hand South Australia a 108-run outright victory in their Sheffield Shield match.
South Australia set WA 319 to win after being bowled out for 326 in their second innings and, after beginning the final day’s play at 2-53, the home side were looking comfortable at 2-109 with Cameron Bancroft and John Rogers at the wicket.
However, the game changed once South Australian captain Johan Botha threw the ball to right-arm swing bowler Sayers. He claimed 3-1 in seven overs before lunch as WA went from 2-109 to 5-114 in no time.
Things did not improve after the break for the Warriors with Adam Voges (9), Mitchell Marsh (19), Ashton Agar (1) and Mitchell Johnson (5) all failing to make an impact, with Trent Lawford, Botha and Joe Mennie picking up wickets.
WA crumbled to 9-153 having lost 7-44 before some late hitting from Sam Whiteman (47 not out) at least took them past 200 before Sayers picked up his fourth wicket with Michael Hogan caught attempting a big shot for 15 and the Warriors were all out for 210.
While Lawford also took 3-41 and Mennie 2-39 for South Australia, it was Sayers who turned the game with his brilliant spell before lunch and finished with 4-34 for the innings.
Sayers’ 3-1 spell snared the wickets of Rogers (31), Will Bosisto (0) and Bancroft (35).
Rogers left a ball that nipped back in and didn’t bounce as much as he expected with Sayers cannoning the ball into the stumps, before having Bosisto caught behind by Tim Ludeman and then opener Bancroft chopped the ball onto the stumps.
The 26-year-old Sayers was the leading wicket-taker in the Shield last season with 48 scalps at an average of 18.
With 3-64 in the first innings, Sayers even scored a handy 27 with the bat in South Australia’s second innings.