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Joseph John Sayers

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Name:
Joseph John Sayers

Born:
November 5, 1983. Leeds

Role:
Left-hand bat, right-arm off-break bowler

County Debut:
2002

County Cap:
June 16, 2007

Nickname:
Squirrel

Squad Number:
22

STATISTICS

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PROFILE

Joe Sayers may have a reputation for patience at the top of the order in four-day cricket, but the Leeds-born left-handed opener has much, much more in his locker.

The Oxford University graduate has been pigeon-holed as a Championship specialist, but he has shown glimpses throughout his career that he can be a force in one-day cricket as well, particularly when he scored 154 runs from seven Twenty20 matches at an average of 25.66 upon return from illness in 2011.

Sayers‘ career was left in the balance when he was diagnosed with Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome midway through the 2010 summer, but he won his battle back to fitness and scored 773 first-class runs in 2011, even captaining the side towards the end of the Championship campaign when Andrew Gale was injured.

Sandwiched in between captaining England’s under 17s and 19s teams in 2001 and 2003, he also skippered Oxford UCCE in three first-class matches.

During the most prolific summer of his career in 2009, which brought him two hundreds in a haul of 1,150 first-class runs, he was handed an England Lions call-up for a two-day friendly against Ricky Ponting’s touring Australians at Canterbury.

Sayers spent the vast majority of 2012 playing for Yorkshire’s Second XI mainly due to the good form of Joe Root and Phil Jaques.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

2001 and 2003 - Captained England’s under 17s team on winter tour of Australia before doing the same with England under 19s against South Africa at Chelmsford in August, 2003. It was an under 19s team including Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Samit Patel, James Hildreth, Luke Wright, ex-White Rose duo Mark Lawson and Nick Thornicroft as well as current Yorkshire team-mates Andrew Hodd and Liam Plunkett.

2004 - Scored 147 in the Varsity match against Cambridge University at the Parks before hitting an unbeaten 144 in the one-day Varsity match at Lord’s. Also made his Yorkshire Championship debut against Leicestershire at Grace Road in August. Half-centuries followed against Durham, Somerset and Glamorgan in September.

2005 - Notched his first Championship hundred for Yorkshire against Leicestershire at Grace Road. His 347-ball 104 was key to the county’s memorable come-from-behind win as they chased down 397 to win.

2007 - Hit big hundreds in three successive months, including 149 not out to carry his bat against Durham in April and then a career best 187 against Kent at Tonbridge Wells in June, the same month he was handed his county cap.

2009 - Topped 1,000 Championship runs in a season for the first and only time in his career to date, earning him an England Lions call-up. Toured South Africa with the national Performance Programme squad in December.

2010 - Diagnosed with Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome, meaning he missed the majority of the summer.

2011 - Made an impressive return to first-class action by topping 750 first-class runs, showed glimpses of his abilities in limited overs colours and captained the Championship side at the back end of the campaign. Struggled to hold down a first-team place, however, the following summer.