Chris Rogers (cricketer)

Chris Rogers

Personal information
Full name	Christopher John Llewellyn Rogers
Born	(1977-08-31) 31 August 1977 St George, Sydney, Australia
Nickname	Bucky, The Sandman
Height	177cm[1]
Batting style	Left-hand
Bowling style	Leg-break and googly
Role	Opening Batsman
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 399)	16 January 2008 v India
Last Test	3–5 January 2014 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1998–2008	Western Australia
2003	Shropshire
2004–2005 & 2008–2010	Derbyshire
2005	Leicestershire
2005	Wiltshire
2006–2007	Northamptonshire
2008–	Victoria
2011–	Middlesex
Career statistics
Competition Test FC LA T20 Matches 11 257 159 43 Runs scored 849 21,258 5,082 627 Batting average 40.42 49.90 36.56 17.41 100s/50s 3/5 65/99 5/34 0/3 Top score 119 319 140 58 Balls bowled – 230 24 – Wickets – 1 2 – Bowling average – 131.00 13.00 – 5 wickets in innings – 0 0 – 10 wickets in match – 0 n/a n/a Best bowling – 1/16 2/22 – Catches/stumpings 9/– 217/– 69/– 22/–
Source: Cricinfo, 5 January 2014

Christopher John Llewellyn Rogers (born 31 August 1977 in St George, Sydney) is an Australian cricketer.

Rogers is a left-handed opening batsman. He spent ten years playing for Western Australia, before moving to play for Victoria in 2008. He has played county cricket in England for the past ten years for many sides, including Derbyshire, where he was captain, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Middlesex.

Despite maintaining a first-class average of nearly 50, he did not play for the Australia national cricket team until the age of 30, when he was selected for a single Test match in 2008. He was recalled to the Australia national team for the 2013 Ashes series, aged 35.

Early life

Rogers' father, John Rogers, played for New South Wales between 1969 and 1970. He is also a cousin of Australian chess grandmaster Ian Rogers.^[2]

Rogers made one Youth Test match appearance, against New Zealand in 1996. Rogers' batting talent had led some to anoint him as the next Australian opener, replacing Justin Langer.^[3]

Domestic career

He first arrived in England to play for Wellington CC in Shropshire and the welter of runs he contributed saw them move from the Furrow's Shropshire League to the Birmingham League where they were again promoted. He was unable to play Minor Counties cricket but did make one appearance for Shropshire in the Nat West Trophy where overseas players were allowed, but sadly made a duck in his only game.

He made his first trip into English First Class cricket playing for Derbyshire, where despite suffering from a shoulder injury, played well. He moved to Leicestershire in the second half of the 2005 season, where he averaged over 70, and scored one double-century against the touring Australians.^[4] In 2006 he moved to Northamptonshire and immediately made his mark with fifty fours, two sixes, and a final score of 319 from 417 balls against Gloucestershire.

In October 2006 he and Marcus North put on a record domestic third wicket partnership of 459, Western Australia v Victoria, at the WACA. Rogers' score of 279 was the second highest ever by a West Australian, behind the 355 not out that Geoff Marsh scored at the same ground in December 1989. On 5 February 2007 Rogers was awarded the 'State Cricket Player of the Year' prize at the Allan Border Medal presentation.

He returned to Derbyshire for the 2008 season,^[5] playing as their overseas player when Mahela Jayawardene declared himself unavailable due to his commitments with Sri Lanka and the Indian Premier League, and has since become the temporary captain after the resignation of Rikki Clarke. Despite being both short-sighted and colourblind,^[3] Rogers has proven himself to be a sharp player both at and away from the crease. Rogers has also played for Shropshire, representing them during one match of the C&G Trophy. In 2008, he walked out on the Western Warriors, reportedly over his status as a fringe-player in state's one-day team, and joined Victoria for the 2008/2009 season.^[5]

In 2008, Rogers hit 248 not out, carrying his bat for Derbyshire against Warwickshire. The score is the third-highest single-innings total in a first-class match by a Derbyshire player, and the highest score for 62 years. The innings meant Rogers had registered a double century for all four first-class domestic teams that he had represented.^[6]

In 2010, after relinquishing the Derbyshire Captaincy to Greg Smith, Rogers joined Middlesex for the 2011 season. Since joining Middlesex he has become stand in captain for the four day format and has performed exceptionally well with the bat in both the one day game and LV County Championship, he has scored a double century already in the 2013 season along with 184 showing his class to either save or win the game.

International career

In May 2007 Rogers was awarded his first national contract with Cricket Australia.^[7] On 13 January 2008 he was added to the Australia Test squad as a cover for the injured Matthew Hayden, who had torn a hamstring.^[8] On 15 January Rogers was confirmed as playing at the WACA Ground (in Perth) in the third Test against India which was to start the following day.^[9] Australia were chasing a world-record 17th consecutive test victory, but found the going difficult. Rogers scored four runs in the first innings of 212 and 15 in the second innings as Australia unsuccessfully chased a target of over 400.^[10] His national contract was subsequently terminated in April 2008.^[5] Rogers commented that he "didn't see it coming, I'll have to accept it and try to get back in."^[5] On 24 April 2013, Chris Rogers was named in the Australian Test squad for the upcoming 2013 Ashes tour, more than five years after he played his first and only Test match for Australia. Rogers was one of 16 players selected for the tour.^[11][12] Just over a week before the tour, Australia coach Darren Lehmann announced that Rogers and Shane Watson would form the opening batting pair for the first test.^[13] On 12 August 2013, Rogers made his maiden Test century in Australia's first innings of the fourth test of the 2013 Ashes series, played at the Riverside International Cricket Ground, Chester-le-Street, Durham.

Rogers scored his second test century, his first on Australian soil, on December 29 2013 during the Boxing Day Test Match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He backed up the performance with another Ashes century in the New Year's Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground with his current highest test score of 119.

Test centuries

Test Match Centuries of Chris Rogers
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Date
1	110	5	England	Chester-le-Street, England	Riverside Ground	10 August 2013
2	116	10	England	Melbourne, Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground	29 December 2013
3	119	11	England	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	5 January 2014

References

External links

• Player profile: Chris Rogers from CricketArchive
• Player profile: Chris Rogers from ESPNcricinfo