Heading into the fourth Ashes Test, Chris Rogers' short international career was marked by the quirky statistic of scoring more runs against Australia than for them.
A 27-year-old Rogers was playing for English county leicestershire in 2005 when he opened the batting in a tour match against his own national team, which was in town for what would prove to be one of the great Ashes series. He made 56 in the first innings then 219 in the second, hardly boosting the confidence of Australia's bowlers for the upcoming Test matches against England. It's taken him eight long and difficult years, but Rogers finally has an innings to boast about in the Baggy Green.
On Saturday, playing in only his fifth test match, the ginger-topped left-hander produced one of the grittiest Ashes innings in years to score his first international century, helping Australia seize back control of a match it needs to win to keep alive hopes of drawing the series 2-2. "It just felt like there was always one bloke in the way," Rogers said. "It was (Hayden and Justin langer) then it was Jaquesy (Phil Jaques), then it was (Simon) Katich, then Phil (Hughes), then Watto (Shane Watson) went and opened. "It just felt like there was always one bloke in the way but I get to play cricket for a living and I set high standards. I've been happy to go along and perform as well as I can and hope for this one opportunity."