Since his brief ODI career, Ferguson has consistently performed well enough in domestic cricket to be in contention to play for Australia, but has struggled to actually break into the Australian side. He hit a match-winning century against Western Australia on 23 October 2011, battling to take South Australia from 8 for 170 to their target of 234 along with tailender Nathan Lyon. He remarkably top-scored for South Australia with 126 in spite of an innings loss to Western Australia in a Sheffield Shield loss, after which he scored an unbeaten 56 against the Warriors in a one-day win two days later. He was part of South Australia's Ryobi Cup-winning team, breaking a 25-year drought for the state. He was named as 12th man in the one-day team of the year.