This time last year, Joe Sayers would have been forgiven for thinking about giving up life as a professional cricketer.

The left-hander was struggling to score a run. He played just six LV County Championship matches all season, scoring 76 runs.

His lowest point perhaps came at Trent Bridge last July when he was brought back into the side in place of injured captain Anthony McGrath. He scored just nine and two.

But now the 25 year-old opener is on the verge of 1,000 Championship runs in a summer for the first time in his career, having recently played for the England Lions against Australia at Canterbury.

And Sayers’ opening partner Jacques Rudolph has even backed him to go one better.

“Joe has the makings of a very good Test player,” said Rudolph, who has played 35 Tests for South Africa.

“I have already said to him that my only criticism is possibly that he needs to up his strike rate. That is not necessarily a technical thing, it is intent.

“Joe is a typical opening batsman, and he needs to find that balance of when to attack and defend. Once he finds that, he can easily play Test cricket.”

Sayers has played down thoughts that he may have quit last winter, instead working tirelessly on revamping his technique.

“It was certainly a very difficult stage in my career,” he said. “I was in a very difficult situation, but gladly I have come through that now.

“I feel I have come through as a stronger and better player. I don’t think that I would be where I am now without that experience.”

Despite his good form in four-day cricket, he has still been used sparingly in one-day cricket this term.

In nine matches, he has scored two fifties, including 55 against Gloucestershire in a Pro40 match last Thursday.

It is something Rudolph believes would help Sayers to up his strike rate in Championship cricket.

“It would be practical for Joe because you have got be going at the ball all the time,” added Rudolph, who shared 121 inside 22 overs for the first wicket with Sayers.

Yorkshire will travel down to Sussex for their penultimate Championship fixture on Wednesday with a four-point cushion over the Hove side in their fight against relegation.