Early on, he suffered from stress fractures in his back and was forced to play as a batsman, but he fought through his injuries to become a pace bowler and rise to Woodville's top-level team along with his brother Aaron.
[5] As he was in good form in grade cricket, Sayers was given a rookie contract with South Australia's state team for the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons.
[3] Sayers considered moving interstate to seek opportunities at a higher level, but he stayed in South Australia and his form continued to improve.
He took 65 wickets in the 2010–11 season at an average of 8.63, won the Bradman Medal[3] and was finally given the opportunity to play in a first-class match in a Sheffield Shield game against Tasmania.
[18] Sayers also signed a contract to play for Twenty20 team the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League (BBL) for the first time.
[16] Sayers was unable to play in the BBL and the rest of the Sheffield Shield season due to an ankle injury which required surgery.
[22] He returned to Australia after the tour to finish off the Sheffield Shield season, and reached new career-best figures of 7/46 against Tasmania in a big innings victory.
[23] Sayers had a good start to the 2016–17 Sheffield Shield season, taking eleven wickets in the second round in another innings victory over Tasmania.
Sayers was put in financial uncertainty by the pay dispute as his three-year contract had come to an end, and the players agreed to boycott the Australia A tour if an agreement had not been reached before its commencement.
He replaced the injured Jackson Bird in Australia's Test squad for their tour of South Africa in February to April 2018.
After they had become the captain and vice-captain, their father Dean Sayers (a former first-class cricketer for South Australia) became the club's coach and kept his sons in their leadership roles.
Former Test cricketer Ashley Mallett has compared Sayers to past Australian swing bowlers Bob Massie and Terry Alderman because of his patience and focus.
Despite being the leading wicket-taker in the Sheffield Shield on multiple occasions, he has been consistently overlooked by Twenty20 franchises in Australia due to his lack of pace and variations.
The Sheffield Shield breaks for two months in the middle of the summer to make way for the Big Bash League, Australia's franchise Twenty20 competition.