Close of play

128-3 at the close, Rogers 59 not out.

So the captaincy hasn't affected Buck. I thought I'd go back over his scores in the Championship this season

In order, they read:

13, 77, 19, 64, 69, 10, 63, 11, 14, 52, 20, 1, 118, 57, 20, 15*, 59*

So in 17 innings he's had 7 fifties and 1 century. Interestingly only one single figure score.

He also had a century against Bangladesh A and is just short of the 800 mark. Only six players have scored more runs this year in division two and only eight in division one. So all things considered, he's had far from a bad season.

The problem lies in that conversion rate and no one will be more aware of it than Rogers himself. Of his seven fifties his highest innings is 77. Maybe we'd have been more understanding if he'd scored 3 centuries and 4 fifties? He still has time to score more centuries and will, as a thoroughly professional man, want to lead by example. The stories emanating from the club when Travis Birt was there have not been replicated with this chap and we should all be grateful that we have a man of that substance.

Last night I suggested Cameron White for next season, but I wouldn't be disappointed if we had Rogers again. Where we missed a trick this year was in not signing someone for the 20/20 and White's explosive style would be useful in that competition. Until the 20/20 our season was going quite steadily, but it went down like a balloon after the early success at Headingley.

Rogers isn't a top class one day batsman, but he has 2 fifties in 3 Pro 40 games and had 3 in five FP trophy matches. Throughout the season he has maintained an average between 40 and 50 and with our batting frailties, we'd have been in serious trouble without him.