“It’s likely he’ll be available for the second Test but we won’t know that for a few days yet”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Australia opener Chris Rogers has been ruled out of the first Test against the West Indies in Dominica on Wednesday after sustaining a concussion.

Rogers was struck on the helmet by a local net bowler on Sunday and felt very sore on Monday morning, which led to team doctor Peter Brukner ruling him out.

Brukner tested Rogers at the team hotel on Sunday afternoon and confirmed that the 37-year-old had displayed concussion symptoms such as dizziness.

“He won’t be returning to training until he’s fully recovered,” Brukner said. “He’ll have a return to play process once he’s symptom-free of a few days, gradually increasing his activity before he gets back to it. It’s likely he’ll be available for the second Test but we won’t know that for a few days yet. I spoke to Darren and Michael and they were comfortable with it. I assured Michael if it was him or anybody else, we would be making the exact same decision.

“This is a black-and-white rule now that if someone is concussed, they don’t play. We used to believe concussion was a relatively insignificant condition but now all the evidence shows that we’ve got to take it much more seriously. Cricket is similar to the football codes in that we’re adopting that more serious approach.”