Australia pass on Buck

I may not be psychic but the thinking money would have to be on Chris Rogers Australian career being at an end.

After the season he has had, there were strong reasons to bring him into their touring side for South Africa, but the selectors have bypassed not only Rogers but Phil Jaques too and have gone for the precocious talents of Phil Hughes, a left hander who oozes talent and looks set for a distinguished career at just 21.

Rogers thus looks set to be one of the "nearly" men - joining the likes of Stuart Law, Martin Love and Tom Moody in not quite getting the run at the very top level that his talent has deserved. In another era Rogers would have graced the Aussie side, but his time would appear to be up from a national perspective.

Which is, of course, great news from Derbyshire's point of view, as Rogers should now be available for most of the 2009 season. One can only hope that he remains motivated and keen to prove a point - like Simon Katich did.

The surprise selection for the South African tour was Marcus North, who must be getting close to the all time record for "most counties" when he rolls up at Hampshire this coming season. After stints at Derbyshire, Durham, Gloucestershire and Lancashire, North will play down south, unless he is selected for the Ashes tour.
He is a fine player and was a wonderful short term performer for us a couple of years back, but his stint with us was at the right time from a wicket perspective and he is susceptible to the moving ball. A first class average of 44 suggests a very good, rather than outstanding player and his selection as "someone who can bowl a bit of spin" at number six in the words of their selectors smacks a little of desperation. How bare is their cupboard if North is a spinning option. He is a tidy bowler and did well for both us and Gloucestershire with the ball, especially in one day games. As a Test bowler I doubt he would frighten many though. I wish him luck and he will be remembered as an affable and committed player who gave 100% for Derbyshire in his short stay.

Rogers averages a shade under 50 in first class cricket but only 33 in one day games. It is obvious where his strengths lie but he should aim to bat an innings through in the longer one day games. Although a pacer of an innings rather than a dasher, he would still score a hundred in most matches if he was there at the end. Generally he gets out when trying to accelerate and we've plenty of dashers in the side who could do that if someone was playing Steady Eddie at the other end. If I was John Morris, I would tell him to aim to bat the innings through and see what happened. That way we'd be likely to get 200-250 rather than the 180 we're more used to. That psychological barrier often troubles sides and if Buck could do this we'd win a lot more one day matches.

That's it for now. Coming home tonight, I pulled into our drive when there was still a little light. Just over two months and we'll be back in action.

FANTASTIC!