Pace 'warrior' Chadd Sayers has right stuff for Redbacks revival Paceman Chadd Sayers Chadd Sayers heads the Sheffield Shield wicket tally. Picture: Michael Marschall Source: The Advertiser EYEBROWS were raised when former West Indies skipper Carl Hooper pin-pointed unheralded paceman Chadd Sayers as the integral "warrior" in any South Australian first-class revival this season. Woodville coach Hooper told The Advertiser in September SA needed men in the trenches like Sayers "with the fire in the belly, who never take a backward step" to avoid a fourth straight wooden spoon. Hooper is sitting back with a pearl white smile as Sayers heads the Sheffield Shield wicket tally - silencing doubters and upstaging speedsters across the nation. Sayers has 30 wickets at 20 in six starts this campaign. "I worked hard on my game through the pre-season and did all the right things," said Sayers, ahead of Test speedsters Jackson Bird (27), James Pattinson and John Hastings (25) on the Shield wicket list. I am making the batsman play all the time. It is the key to be relentless. Of course Sayers' method "isn't rocket science" but an unremitting off stump line sometimes appears a lost art in first-class ranks. "If you are making the batsman make a decision every ball you are in the game 100 per cent," said Sayers, with 41 wickets at 22 in nine Shield games. Apprenticeships don't come any harder than that thrust upon Sayers, who cracked 474 grade runs at 43 and took 36 in 2007-08 followed with 58 scalps in 2008-09 for the Peckers. It took the arrival of Redbacks coach Darren Berry to take a chance on a bowler derided as 'too small and slow' giving Sayers his big break against Tasmania in March 2011 having taken another 58 wicket haul for Woodville. Sayers is again trying to prove his worth in the one-day arena ahead of Saturday's clash against Victoria. Chuck has shown a lot of faith in me so it is good to repay him. It is good that grade cricket is valued," said Sayers, forced to wait for his chance behind a cavalcade of inferior interstate recruits. There is less room for error, which was the main thing I had to improve at first-class level. I want to play all forms of cricket for Redbacks. I am working my butt off in the nets trying to show Chuck I am good in all three formats. Sayers has saved his best work for power-packed Victoria with 14 wickets in consecutive wins in Melbourne and Adelaide. However, more will be required of Sayers with SA within range of one-day and Shield final berths. I think we are a massive chance in both formats. We haven't been in a position where we can make both finals in years," said Sayers, with SA's last shot at dual final berths coming in 2005-06, losing the one-day final to New South Wales in Adelaide and finishing third in the four-day format. We have to come home with a wet sail. Ultimately, Sayers wants to emulate Bird's breakthrough Shield season that yielded 53 wickets for Tasmania and set up a Boxing Day Test debut against Sri Lanka. "I am just looking to cement myself in the Redbacks but obviously it is a dream to play for Australia so if the chance came I would grab it with both hands," he said.