Fit again, Ferguson resumes where he left off

Nobody is looking forward to the Australian summer as much as Callum Ferguson. While his South Australian team-mates were toiling away last season, Ferguson was at home on the couch, nursing his reconstructed right knee, learning the guitar and planning a trip to Augusta to watch the US Masters. There was little else he could do.

This time last year, Ferguson looked like becoming Australia's next breakthrough player. He'd established himself in the ODI team and could have used the summer to press his Test claims, but those dreams ended when he twisted his knee while fielding in the Champions Trophy final in South Africa.

Finally, he is back in action. Ferguson made his comeback last month in the Champions League Twenty20, where he showed he had not lost any of his ability by posting two half-centuries and finishing fifth on the tournament run tally. Most importantly, he finished the trip with no lingering soreness.

"I'm really pleased with the way the knee has pulled up," Ferguson told ESPNcricinfo. "I'm loving every bit of it, back playing with the boys and being in the dressing room again. I was going in to my first real competition back and you're always a little bit nervous. But I've been thrilled with the way the knee has held up. It has been put through its paces pretty strongly over the last three weeks."

Now he begins the next phase of his return. Ferguson is the newly-appointed vice-captain of South Australia and he will need to play a key role if the Redbacks are to lift their Sheffield Shield and one-day output after they finished on the bottom of the table in both competitions last summer.

The previous year, Ferguson had made solid progress on the first-class scene, when he scored 644 Sheffield Shield runs at 42.93 including two centuries and a career-best 132. His challenge now is to turn more of his hundreds - he has scored only four in 47 first-class games - into larger, match-changing scores.

"I felt like I was really making some great strides in the longer format just before I hurt my knee," Ferguson said. "I'd like to continue in that vein and help contribute to as many wins as possible in the four-day format. That means once you get a start, getting on with it and making sure you go on and get a big score. That's something I want to continue to keep getting better at."

Although winning a baggy green is the long-term goal for Ferguson, his more immediate hopes of representing Australia lie in the shorter formats. In his 25 ODIs he has averaged 46.07 and although he is not expecting an immediate recall for Australia's one-dayers in India or at home against Sri Lanka, a place at the World Cup next February is beckoning.

"To play in a World Cup would be a huge highlight and something I'd never forget," he said. "That would definitely be an aim but at the same time you've got to contribute to wins for your state side. My main aim is to help the Redbacks get as many wins on the board as we possibly can."

South Australia's season kicks off with their first taste of the new split-innings one-day format against New South Wales at Adelaide Oval next Saturday. Their Sheffield Shield campaign begins two days later under the new captain Michael Klinger, who has taken the reins from Graham Manou.