OCTOBER 2013: 20 questions for Chris Rogers

Did England deserve to win 3-0? Should Sam Robson open for Australia? How did you feel after your maiden Test century? How tough was facing Graeme Swann? Twenty questions for... Chris Rogers

What's the first thing you did after you found out you'd been picked for the Ashes squad? Phoned my parents, who were driving across Australia on holiday. I had to keep it quiet for a few days so U couldn’t tell anyone else. It was a good moment for my mum and dad, even if they had to change their plans and fly over to England. They watched every Test. My brother came over, too.

Did you get a good luck message from opener Simon Katich after you were selected? I did, actually. He texted and said that I deserved my call up, that it was a good reward for what I’d achieved. I’ve always got on well with Katto. He was one of my first captains at Western Australia. I’ve been in the same boat as him, passed over for international selection because of my age, so I know how it feels.

What was the best pre-series sledge from a Middlesex team-mate? Had to be Finny [Steven Finn]. When someone asked him if I’d been helping him with his batting, he said that he was a tall elegant, right-hander, whereas I am a short, ugly, left-hander. There was a bit of banter, but once I’d been picked people were a bit guarded with their opinions. I’ve got some good friends in the Middlesex change-room. They wanted England to win, but also for me to do well.

What do you remember about your first ball in an Ashes contest? James Anderson bowled one that pitched outside leg and swung away to the slips. I defended it off the back foot and thought ‘yeah, I‘m ok with this.’ I was quite nervous to be honest. I hadn’t faced Anderson for a while and knew he’d be a huge challenge. You have to remain level-headed in situations like that. You can’t let emotions take over, you just look to do the same things you’ve always done, things you’re familiar with. I enjoy the contest. The moment I step over the boundary, I just let myself get into it and know I’ll be all right.

What's a Darren Lehmann team talk like? Positive, creates a feel-good atmosphere. He’s been around, knows the game, understands the difficulties players go through, but expects results. He wants people to express themselves and play in a positive frame of mind. During the tour match in Somerset he came to my hotel room and told me that I was going to start the first few Tests. He wanted me in the side. I had his backing and a good chance to make the position my own. It was up to me to perform.

Did it help that Lehmann the player was around the fringes of the Test team, a bit like yourself? We didn’t speak about it, but he understood where I was coming from and wanted me to go out and do a job. He had high expectations of me. Because I had so much cricket behind me, I was considered a senior player, even though I’d only played one Test.

Was there more or less pressure on you coming in to the Australian side at your age?  International cricket isn’t like domestic cricket. There’s always pressure. That’s the most draining thing. I spoke to Middlesex’s psychologist before the series and came up with the idea that I didn’t actually need to feel any pressure. That there were no expectations. I would just go out and fight as hard as Allan Border did when he played. Border is the kind of guy I moulded myself on when I was younger. Pure determination and fight. He had an amazing willingness to get the job done. Always looked under pressure; always seemed to perform. The idea was to use my experience and knowledge of English conditions to be as good as I possibly could for the side.

Did you make a conscious decision to play more shots in the third Test at Old Trafford? Not intentionally, beforehand, no. Initially I just wanted to go out and get in the contest again. It may have been an unconscious thing. The wicket allowed you to play more shots and seemed to be coming on quite nicely. Day one at Old Trafford [Rogers hit 84 from 114 balls] was the best day to bat for the whole series. I hit rock bottom after that Lord’s Test [where he scored 15 and 6]. Over the next couple of days I thought about a few things, let go of some of the criticism I’d been hearing in the press and came out for the Old Trafford game with a more positive mindset.

Were the Tests played on typically English wickets?  Not the sort I’ve been used to playing on in county cricket, no. Durham was the nearest to the sort of pitch you usually get. Sometimes the Test wickets were roughing up on day one. You expect them to be a bit softer over here but they were dry, hard, abrasive and a bit up and down. It was difficult to score at times. The toss was crucial. The wickets were best to bat on early in the game.

How difficult was playing Graeme Swann on those pitches? Difficult. He’s a world-class bowler. Against left-handers he has a real game plan. Gives you nothing. Some turn, some don’t. It’s dangerous to hit against the spin, so you can only score in certain areas. I tried to wear him down and rotate the strike. I did a couple of good jobs against him, wore him down for later in the innings. He wore us down a few times, too, though.

How did you get out to that full toss from Swann at Lord’s? That really was the worst way to get out. You never want to get out like that. Horrible moment. It was so high it went over the sightscreen and then my colour blindness got me and I couldn’t pick it up. It was just one of those things. Not ideal. You just have to let it go and get on with it.                                                                                                           

What's the first thing that went through your mind after your hundred at Durham in the fourth Test? It didn’t sink in until the next over. Stuart Broad was bowling and I was at the non-striker’s end. I suppose I was in a bit of a shock. I’d got 60 first-class hundreds but I never thought I’d get a Test century. It meant more to me than all the other 60 put together. I’d got it in tough conditions, too. That’s as good as I could have hoped for.

What was the nicest congratulatory text after your hundred? Not a text, but Andrew Strauss on Sky Sports commentary said that you couldn’t wish to see a better debut Test century. It means a lot when it comes from an opponent.

Do Australia need a masterclass on how to use DRS? We’re getting better at it. It’s not that easy. Rules change and evolve, players come in and out of sides, and some of us haven’t used it before. It’s hard work. You have to, in the heat of the contest, step back and make a cold, detached decision about whether to use a review or not. I’m not sure it’s 100% at the moment. We need better outcomes from DRS. I struggle to understand how a ball just clipping can be given out, when a ball hitting quite hard is given not out. It’s still human objectivity, so what’s the point?

Were England worthy of the 3-0 scoreline or did they just win the key moments? When England had their foot on our throat they were better at finishing us off. When we had opportunities we couldn’t quite put England away. After Lord’s people were saying ‘that’s it, it’ll be easy for England from now on.’ The last three games we could have won, if we had played just a little bit better and things had gone our way.

Was it annoying to have Australian pundits telling everyone how bad the Australian batting was? It hurt, to be honest. I’d not been involved in international cricket, except for one game, a few years back, I hadn’t learned the ability to ignore that sort of criticism. At one dinner, after the Lord’s game, one ex-Australian player paid out on us, which wasn’t nice. It was hard to take but we probably deserved it. It was also a key moment for me. I came to the realisation that I couldn’t do anything about the criticism so from then on I didn’t think about it.

What's the strongest: County Championship or Sheffield Shield? Tough one to answer. Right now, conditions dictate as much as the opposition. A poor opposition on a bad wicket can be a challenge, whereas the best attack on a good wicket can be relatively easy. Right now, the two competitions are about equal. Over here, the older players make you work harder. Back home, it’s higher intensity, probably because we pay less cricket.

Does Australia have better pitches? Not really. Shield pitches have been spiced up recently to help the seam bowlers. A County Championship pitch might start green but by day four it’s turning. In Australia the green ones don’t break up. Maybe that’s why we’re not producing that many top-class spinners.

How good is Middlesex’s Sam Robson (who can choose between representing Australia or England)? I’m a big fan. When you bat with someone, facing the same bowlers, watching from 22 yards away, you get a feel for how good a player is. He’s still got a long journey in front of him, but I think he’s got what it takes to play international cricket. Sam knows his game well. He’s taller than me, stands up and drives, but also cuts well. He’s got a good idea of where his off stump is. Facing the new ball in England can be a huge challenge, but Sam has the game to succeed.

Will it be Rogers and Robson opening for Australia in a couple of years’ time? I don’t know if I’ll still be around by then. Ideally, I’d like him to take my slot in a while’s time, but whether he plays for England or Australia will be Sam’s choice.