Image courtesy of: The Daily Mail
Rogers has become more reluctant to call for a review
Australia opening batsman Chris Rogers believes he has been unlucky throughout the ongoing Ashes series as he has “been doing some pretty good things and then just getting out”.
Rogers admitted to being disappointed about getting starts in some of his innings, but then failing to convert them into bigger scores and added that there was no real way to practice how not to get out when making a good start in the nets.
“I think I’ve been doing some pretty good things and then just getting out,” Rogers said. “And that’s been the disappointing thing. I know I’ve got to be better and whether that’s concentration or whatever. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, naturally, and hopefully I can be better for the next few matches.”
Speaking about his opening partner Shane Watson, Rogers noted that the all-rounder has to work on not getting caught on the crease as he was dismissed lbw in three out of his four innings during the first two Ashes Tests at Trent Bridge and Lord’s.
“At least it’s one thing that he can work on,” Rogers said. “I’m sure he has been working on that. If he can kind of prevent that from happening then it’s going to make it hard for the English bowlers … He wouldn’t be normal if he didn’t realise that it’s the way they’re targeting him.”
With Watson’s poor reviews being one of the highlights during the first two Tests, Rogers conceded that he now felt more reluctant to challenge an umpire’s decision.
This was well demonstrated during the first Test in Nottingham when Rogers refused to review a lbw decision after being struck on the pads by a rank full toss from England spinner Graeme Swann.
“It kind of went up and over the sight screen and I just lost it,” Rogers said. “Kind of got surprised, thought it was a free hit, and unfortunately it hit me rather embarrassingly but I guess I just lost it and I don’t really know what else to say there. It was hard to know where the ball was going because there was no normal reference points and in hindsight it would have been nice to challenge the lbw.
“My lbw in the first Test, where it’s just clipping and I thought that was going down, it puts a little bit of doubt in your mind about what’s going on. It only has to clip so when it all happened … the other thing is it happened so quickly, emotion takes over a little bit and there were no real reference points so it was hard to know what to do, and particularly [because] it would have been the second review.”
Rogers also admitted that it was difficult to decide whether to call for a review or not right on the spot as he believes the Decision Review System (DRS) has the tendency of encouraging umpires to give lbw decisions out.
“I think that DRS has changed a lot of people’s understanding of what’s going on,” he said. “As a cricketer I’ve made a pretty poor umpire so far. This is the first time I’ve been involved with it. It’s a bit of a learning process, and you have to learn quickly.
“Naturally, if you’re an umpire seeing more balls hit the stumps, then it’s probably swaying your opinion but I don’t know, that’s their job. It’s the same for both sides and as a team we’ve got to try and use this review system better than we have. You’ve got to try and get hit on the pads less. I guess the other thing is playing spin, and getting hit on the front pad, has made it a bit different. You’ve got to use your bat more, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.”
While Rogers should feel right at home on the English pitches, given his vast experience in county cricket, he noted that playing at the same grounds at the international level was much tougher as there is a lot more attention and pressure placed on every player.
“This side that we’re playing against, the bowlers are very good,” he said. “Then just the extra pressure that you almost put yourself under. I guess in some respects I’ve been trying too hard, just trying to work really hard and bogging myself down a bit.
“The pressures that go on with playing international cricket – everyone looking on, the big crowds, those things – that’s what you have to deal with to be a good international player. I knew that before but it’s still something you have to confront.”