Callum Ferguson      

After a few stutters at South Australia, Callum Ferguson came of age in 2008-09 and ended the summer as a regular international performer and the owner of a Cricket Australia contract. An easy-to-watch right-hander, Ferguson had suffered from giving away regular starts, but he came home more determined to cash in following a trip to the English leagues in 2008. There were two hundreds and three Pura Cup fifties in a haul of 644 runs and, despite being lightly built, he showed power with 401 FR Cup runs at almost a run a ball and more explosiveness in Twenty20s.

The national selectors were impressed and he was picked in the one-day squad for the 2009 Chappell-Hadlee Series. Over the next eight months he played 25 ODIs, earned five half-centuries, stood out in a crisis and confirmed himself as a man for the future. Sadly, he suffered a serious knee injury while fielding in the Champions Trophy final and the subsequent reconstruction ruled him out of the home summer. Rated highly by Cricket Australia, he retained his national deal despite the lay-off, and was appointed vice-captain at South Australia for 2010-11.

Ferguson, who has had two stints at the Centre of Excellence, showed incredible maturity when he made his first-class debut, posting 733 Pura Cup runs as the rest of the team's stroke-makers struggled. The next summer he backed up with 506 at 36, but his only concern in making four half-centuries was a highest score of 65. A talented junior, Ferguson went to the Academy in 2002 and was then chosen for the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2004, but his first major knee injury on the eve of the tournament kept him from playing.
Cricinfo staff July 2010