South Australian batsman Callum Ferguson’s prolific run-scoring continued against Western Australia on Thursday’s opening day of the Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide.

The Redbacks were 4-153 at tea with Ferguson unbeaten on 48 and Jake Brown not out 22.

Ferguson took his Shield tally past 530 runs with an innings that steadied SA after early strife.

The Redbacks struggled to 3-56 before Ferguson combined with Travis Head (28) for a 57-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

The stand was broken when Head was caught behind to give paceman Michael Hogan his second scalp, the sole wicket to fall in the middle session.

Hogan had figures of 2-30 with fellow quick Nathan Coulter-Nile (1-34) and spinner Ashton Agar (1-41) the other successful bowlers.

Ferguson returned to the Redbacks for this game after averaging almost 50 for Australia A in the recent limited-overs series against the England Lions.

He also made 271 runs at 45.16 for the Redbacks in the domestic one-day tournament.