Australia's discards share Adelaide welcome

Adelaide, November 21, 2016

While a couple meters away Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb gathered their packs for the first run through as Australian Test cricketers, Callum Ferguson thought about how he had been picked and disposed of in the space of a solitary week.

The scenes at Adelaide Airport – separated from the fight between South Africa’s bolster staff and a willing TV columnist – mirrored these weird and tumultuous times for Australian cricket. Handscomb and Matthew Wade touched base from Melbourne a couple of minutes before Renshaw and Usman Khawaja streamed in from Brisbane.

They were joined by the South Australian side that flopped by 12 balls to squeeze out a draw against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield match at the Gabba. After the travails of the previous two weeks it isn’t difficult to envision various figures at Cricket Australia trusting the Test group can be that aggressive against South Africa this week.

The last man out at the Gabba, Chadd Sayers, meandered through the entries lobby in an Australia group polo Ferguson had wore just a couple days prior.

In spite of the fact that he had each motivation to be vexed, significantly astringent about his treatment, Ferguson put on an honorably overcome confront, befitting the even disposition of a man who has held his point of view and yearning to perform even despite two knee reproductions.

The between time choice executive Trevor Hohns had offered Ferguson a slight promising sign for the future when illuminating him that his administrations were no longer required – there has been discussion of taking him to India. “I addressed Trevor a day or two ago and he said the entryway is surely not close,” he said. “Get out there, make runs and surely you have a chance to get back in there in the event that you do put them on the board.”