da dobrowin： Scoring runs doesn’t seem to be enough for Chris Rogers to win another Test spot but the opener hasn’t given up on his international dreams
Ben Huf12-Jun-2009
Chris Rogers continues to pile up runs in county cricket•Getty Images
The old sentiment “every boy’s dream” will be bandied about unsparinglyduring the Ashes but Chris Rogers knows better than most that for everydream there is a less glamorous reality. While Rogers is riding the mostproductive period of his career, he is sitting quietly on the outer ofAustralia’s plans, slipping further from the Test inner circle following theemergence of Phillip Hughes and Marcus North.Despite scoring more than 2500 first-class runs in Australia and England inthe 2008 and 2008-09 seasons, Rogers, the tenacious Victoria opener, hasn’tbeen given any indication that he could add to his one baggy green. Not thatthe absence of reward comes as any shock to Rogers. He has been touted asone of Australia’s best batsmen but isn’t mentioned very often as a Testcontender. When he failed to win a 2009-10 national contract it was just onemore blow to add to the rest of them.”Not overly surprised, more disappointed I’d say,” Rogers told Cricinfo ofmissing out on a contract. “I kind of don’t get a great feeling from theselectors, so because of that, I thought I probably wouldn’t. But if youlook at the stats and those kinds of things, then maybe I did deserve to getone. But that’s the way it goes and people make their decisions, sounfortunately I didn’t get one.”I can’t do anything about it, I’ve done everything I can to probablydeserve a spot. Obviously I will probably be a little bit upset that moreopportunities haven’t come along, but it’s something that if you worry abouttoo much, then it just gets on top of you. I try and stay positive and notworry about it too much, and hopefully one day another opportunity will comealong.”As captain of Derbyshire, he will again push to be one of the heaviestscoring Australians in county cricket, while the Ashes series unfolds aroundhim. It becomes yet another fraying twist in Rogers’ successful, butultimately underappreciated career, which included a hundred inhis first Championship game of the season.For years, the public knew less of him, sitting well back in the shadows ofthe batting queue behind Hussey and Hodge, Love and Lehmann, Katich andClarke. A mammoth 1202 Pura Cup runs in 2006-07 finally brought a CricketAustralia contract and his sole Test chance arrived when Matthew Hayden wasinjured in January 2008. And then, as abruptly as recognition had come, itwas gone.”Of all my seasons, that was the most that was up and down,” Rogers said ofhis 2007-08 summer. “I missed out, then I had the appendicitis, then Iplayed the Test, then I got dropped again, then I wasn’t even playing forWA. So it was interesting, and is kind of hard to deal with at times, butyou’ve just got to take all those good times out of it and remember those.”Rogers replied with 1195 Sheffield Shield runs in 2008-09, eight shy of overall leaderMichael Klinger, having already made a mountainous 1372 for Derbyshire in2008. Statistics aside, of equal esteem was the fluid transition he made toVictoria. As well as finally establishing himself as a one-day player, hewon the Bill Lawry Medal as the state’s best player in their triumphantSheffield Shield season.”The challenge was to fit in at Victoria and it was never going to beparticularly easy, but in the end it was fantastic,” he said. “I made a lotof friends, and we had some success. So I really enjoyed it and I probablywould put it up there with as good as summer as I’ve ever had.”They’ve never really spoken to me and said why,” Rogers says of the Australian selectors after he made his Test debut and later that year lost his national contract•AFP
“The older you get, the more team success becomes the most important part ofplaying sport. I hadn’t even been lucky enough to play in a Shield final, soI was really looking forward to that, and we played and deserved to win, sothat will be one of the highlights that I’ll remember for the rest of mycareer.”There is a security in team success too, which is much more fulfilling thanindividual pursuits. After 10 years near the top for only one Test, Rogersunderstands better than most the vagaries of “every boy’s dream”. Asked ifhe receives much contact from the national selectors on his progress, heanswered with: “No … but then I’m not part of the squad.””They’ve never really spoken to me and said why not,” Rogers said of hisaxing at the end of last summer. “I know Andrew Hilditch [the chairman ofselectors] told me when I was no longer required in the squad to go away andscore runs, I think I did that and that didn’t seem to work.”Despite being only 31, Rogers knows he might become part of the infamouslist of prolific batsmen whose Test chances were brief – or non-existent -due to the legacy of the dominant Australian era. By the end of his career,he may be considered less fortunate than most. Rogers averages 51.68 in theSheffield Shield. Of some other unlucky players like Jamie Siddons, JamieCox, Stuart Law, Martin Love, Jimmy Maher and Brad Hodge, the highestaverage is Love’s 45.23.The game also serves a bizarre irony in that when scoring mountains of runsis not rewarded, the greatest ease from the pain is to simply continuescoring runs. So how does Rogers sustain his passion for cricket when itbrings such disappointment?”It can get a little boring [the endless first-class circuit], and it canget a little hard when it’s 10 degrees over here and you’re playing in thecold and wet,” he said. “I remember once I complained to my friend that itwas going to be a hot day and I was going to struggle in the field, and hejust said ‘I’d rather be running around there all day then sitting behind adesk’.”I’ve always remembered that comment and for me, I’m very grateful of mylifestyle. I can’t really complain and when times do get tough, you’ve justgot to remember how lucky I am.”