Captain Chris Rogers is following in the footsteps of some of his famous compatriots
In our July issue Somerset's Chris Rogers tells Ivo Tennant he has one final project - to lead his county in the Championship and nurture their England prospects. But will he bump into Chris Gayle?
Here Ivo looks at some fellow Australian's who have called Taunton home.
Colin McCool
Leg-spinning allrounder who played at Taunton from 1956–60, scoring 7,913 runs and taking 219 wickets. Made 1,967 runs in his first season, including 90 and 116 against his touring countrymen. He was good enough to have played in 14 Tests and helped lift Somerset off the foot of the Championship table.
John McMahon
An orthodox left-arm spinner from Balaclava, South Australia, who made 115 appearances from 1954–57 and who was first-choice spinner ahead of McCool. Took 8 for 46 against Kent at Yeovil in 1955. But his county career ended in sad circumstances when he was dismissed for disciplinary reasons.
Bill Alley
John Arlott, the great commentator, did not care for Australians but he made an exception for Alley, a highly popular figure at Taunton, who played for the club as an allrounder for 12 seasons until he was 50. In 1961 he became the last batsman to make 3,000 runs in a season in the Championship and in 1962 he achieved the ‘double’.
Greg Chappell
One of the finest of all Australian batsmen who had two seasons at Taunton in 1968 and 1969, scoring 2,493 runs. Although he acknowledged the experience made him a better player, he did not like the workaday outlook engendered by too much cricket. “They loved rain and the prospect of a day off,” he said of his colleagues.
Justin Langer
In his first spell with the club in 2006, the tough opener made 342 against Surrey at Guildford, the highest score in Somerset’s history, shrugging off jet lag. He was to make a further triple-century in a career at Taunton which embraced the captaincy until he retired from all forms of the game in 2009.
To read the full interview with Chris Rogers, check out our relaunched July issue here.
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