Chris Rogers holds the rare record of scoring a double-century against his own country. Playing for Leicestershire in 2005, Rogers opened the batting against the Australians and posted 56 and 219 despite chat from Matthew Hayden, who said he should get out to benefit the national team. In 2007-08 he took Hayden's Test place when the Queenslander was injured for the third game against India in Perth. Rogers scored 4 and 15 and by the end of the summer had lost his Cricket Australia contract and left Western Australia for Victoria.

Rogers was handed a national deal after leading the 2006-07 domestic first-class run-list. That collection started with 279 - his stand of 459 with Marcus North was the third highest in Australian interstate history - and he finished with 1202 at 70.70, which earned him the State Player of the Year and Pura Cup Player of the Series prizes.

In the previous season he topped Western Australia's table with 794 at 41.78, including two hundreds and four fifties. After compiling 259 runs in the one-day competition, he was picked for Australia A's Top End winter series. A regular in England - he has returned to Derbyshire for 2008 - he amassed 1352 runs for Northamptonshire in 2006, including a personal-best of 319 against Gloucestershire. Rogers had a particularly strong season when he raised four Pura Cup hundreds in 2003-04, but recoveries from shoulder and hamstring operations hampered him the following summer, although he still managed to pass 600 first-class runs and appear for the Prime Minister's XI.

Strangely, Rogers is short-sighted and colour blind, which means he sometimes struggles to focus on the red ball when it mixes with the background. Ginger-haired and tenacious, he possesses a fine cricketing pedigree. His father John represented New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield in the late 1960s and later became a respected administrator, ultimately assuming a post as general manager of the Western Australian Cricket Association. Rogers' future looked promising ever since he was selected for the Australian Under-19 team in 1996, but he faces a battle to return to national set-up.
Cricinfo staff April 2008

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Feb 29, 2008 Chris Rogers tucks one through the on side during his 166 © Getty Images

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