Chris Rogers' autobiography, Bucking the Trend, has been in the news following some startling revelations from the former Australian cricketer. The Western Australian cricketer released his book earlier this week and has been successful in raising quite a few eyebrows regarding his experience in the international and the domestic stage.
The latest revelation in his book describes the worst possible sledge in the domestic circuit. The batsman revealed that he was sledged mercilessly by Michael Clarke and Adam Voges in the domestic circuit before making it to the national team.
Clarke berates Rogers for not walking
The left-handed batsman was sledged by then Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke in a tour match between Australia and Derbyshire in 2010. After what looked like a clean catch was taken by Australian wicketkeeper, Tim Paine, Rogers - who represented Derbyshire - decided to walk, but was called back when it transpired that the catch wasn't taken.
Clarke was not amused and had a few words to say to Rogers, “About five metres into my walk off the ground, Mike (Hussey) called out ‘Buck, you’re not out mate, he didn’t catch it’. Resuming my innings, I then copped a mouthful from Michael Clarke, then Ricky’s vice-captain, for not walking immediately,” writes Rogers in his autobiography.
Rogers recalls another incident which happened immediately after making his debut in the international stage against the Indians, when he was drafted back to domestic cricket following his disappointing show. The batsman, who represented Western Australia till then, decided to switch to Victoria in search of more batting opportunities.
Marcus North’s sledge at Rogers
The Australian stated that he suffered the worst sledge of his domestic career during a domestic match between Victoria and Western Australia in 2008. Marcus North, his former teammate, let Rogers know how his former teammates felt about his move by kissing the WACA badge after posting a century, glaring at Rogers the whole time.
“At the time I was enjoying a rare stint in the slips, and I remember David Hussey exclaiming, ‘Mate, he just looked at you and kissed the badge!’,” Rogers wrote. Rogers recalled that he gave perfect reply to North by gesturing in similar fashion after getting to his own century in the same match.
However, the exchange of glares didn't end there. North was on the verge of scoring another ton in the second innings of the same match and Rogers recalled he jokingly told Hussey that if North was to score a century and kiss his badge again, he would do the same in his innings as well.
He wrote, "Sure enough, Marcus looked straight at me again and kissed the badge for his second hundred of the match. ‘You’ve got to do it now,’ said Huss, as I realised it had been a stupid comment to make."
Rogers further went on to write, "When three figures rolled around I did as promised, and it all kicked off in the middle – the WA guys didn’t like it one bit. Adam Voges, who had been one of the guys who tried hardest to get me to stay, sledge the s--t out of me, and the gesture was widely reported on."
The left-hander recalled that he put everything behind and went on to score the winning runs for his new team. He wrote, "It was an extraordinary week, quite emotional, my innings clearly inspired by the turmoil that had taken me to Melbourne and then back to Perth as an opponent."
"But I’ve never kissed the badge since," he stated.
Rogers made his Test debut for Australia in 2008 and played 25 Tests for his country before retiring in 2015.
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