Chadd Sayers’ long wait for baggy green is over with debut in Johannesburg for Mitch Starc

CHADD Sayers’ long wait for a baggy green is over.

• The moment that prompted Lehmann to quit
• Why pariah Warner couldn’t fly home with Smith
• Cricket world reacts to tears
• Sayers, selectors back on same page

CHADD Sayers will make a long-awaited Test debut in Johannesburg against South Africa as the good news story of a horror week for Australia.

It’s understood spearhead Mitchell Starc failed to recover from a calf injury, opening the door for Sayers who had has to endure several false dawns in pursuit of the baggy green.

Sayers, 30, has paid his dues with 246 wickets at 24 in 60 first-class matches including 62 in 2016-17.

Australia’s ball tampering plot during the third Test in Cape Town stemmed from an inability to move the ball but that won’t be a problem from the man known as the Sultan of Swing.

Sayers was pipped for a home Test pink ball debut in Adelaide in 2016 when Jackson Bird was preferred before the coin toss. Only a miracle recovery from Starc can deny the South Australian Sayers.

Written off as too small and slow for Test cricket, Sayers’ selection is a victory for the everyman and timely inclusion following the ball tampering bans handed to former skipper Steve Smith, David Warner and Cam Bancroft.

👍 #TheChadd pic.twitter.com/CzRGHEvMv8

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) March 30, 2018

Australia must win at the Bullring starting tonight to level the series 2-2 and preserve an unbeaten series record in South Africa since the Apartheid.

Openers Matt Renshaw, Joe Burns and Glenn Maxwell have been recalled.