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That sounds like a backhanded compliment, but as a right-hander who bats left-handed, Rogers shouldn’t see backhand as being necessarily inferior.
Edges
We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a batsman miss and edge the ball quite as much as Chris Rogers did today. It was unreal. You can take it one of two ways. You can say he had more than his fair share of luck or you can acknowledge that it was damn difficult to bat and be impressed at how he did absolutely everything in his power to score some runs.
Some things are simply out of your control, but everything he could control, he did right. Every single thing.
Edgy
Okay, he got a bit skittish when he got near three figures, but you should allow him that. If you heard him interviewed afterwards, you’ll have some idea how he must have been feeling. It’s been an uncommonly long wait for a first Test hundred and at 35, there’s always a chance that any opportunity might be your last.
In the rest of the innings, Rogers did two things particularly well – both of which can be characterised as making the best of things. Making the best of things isn’t something people upload to YouTube, but it’s a key component of Test match batting.
Gaining an edge
Firstly, he edged the ball well. When he played, he played late and softly and often the ball didn’t carry. In conditions where there’s a decent chance you’re going to edge a few, that’s as much as you can do.
Secondly, he didn’t give a toss when he had edged it. Next ball, he’d take a single or maybe he’d miss again, but whatever happened, he wasn’t making mistakes. It wasn’t his fault the ball was going sideways for half the day.
Contrast this with some of Australia’s younger batsmen. They edge one, burst into tears and then slap the next delivery straight to mid-on. Not Chris Rogers. Once again, he did the hard bit and today it was particularly hard. It just goes to show that he didn’t deserve to end up as a one Test wonder.
Your empathy for people in their mid-thirties has to stop. You’ll soon grow older, you know. As will Chris Rogers, admittedly, but he will have more money.
Imagine an England captain whose lack of creativity was beginning to be problematic and whose obvious ability as an batsman was being called into question as a result of unrelated decision making.
If only there were a specialist captain in county cricket with international experience who’d recently disabused themselves of themselves of a longstanding captaincy responsibility.
Good on the old chap, I say. Let him have his moment. But if he wins this match for Australia I will hate him forever.
78-2
11-2
28-3
30-3
64-3
27-3
107-2
49-3
In other words, this is Bell’s Ashes.
I have had it up to here with Bairstow.
Time to be rid of the useless ginger twat.
And I’ll point out again that Compton and Cook averaged 58 as an opening pair.
Cook and Root are averaging 22 and haven’t made a 50 stand yet – that sort of quality of opening pair is normally reserved for sides of the quality of Leicestershire.
Hmmm. I predict they will stick with JB for the fifth test but he won’t go to Australia. Time to have another look at Taylor. They might even spring a surprise like Carberry or Chopra.
Interesting piece in this month’s All Out Cricket about how players get better as they mature. They interviewed several players who are seemingly getting better as they go past 30. And Rikki Clarke.
Good test match, this. Bell and Pietersen this afternoon were the first English batsmen for a while who’ve realised there are numbers between 0 and 100 on the percentage attack scale. And Rogers, Harris and Lyon seemed to be the first Aussie players in a while who play the way they feel they should play, not with a comparison to Hayden, McGrath and Warne in their minds all the time. It was good to watch.