Chris Rogers

If you asked a Derbyshire fan of longstanding who our best-ever batsman had been, the chances are that they would name half a dozen candidates and that Chris Rogers would be in there.


I have always maintained that an overseas batsman has to average 50 to justify his salary and Rogers did that without fail, every season. At times he seemed to carry the batting and that is perhaps why the runs dried up a little this year. Mind you, how many batsmen would take ‘drying up’ if they ‘only’ scored 1200 runs? A knee injury also affected him as the season went on, but he was still the prized wicket in the side, a sure sign of how others saw him.

Once established and in touch, Rogers rarely looked like getting out. Azharuddin may have played one extravagant shot too many, but Rogers, like Peter Kirsten, Michael di Venuto and Dean Jones would just keep going. He played with a straight bat and adjusted to our slow pitches remarkably well after being accustomed to the pace at Perth. Like most Australians he had a great pair of hands, though I would not class him as a top captain. As I’ve written before, he perhaps didn’t have the weaponry that a top skipper needs in the field, but Buck seemed more reactive than active as a skipper and didn’t often make things happen.

Nor was he an especially good one-day player. As a naturally free-scoring player, to me all he needed to do was play his normal game and let the rest bat around him, but he often fell to big shots when there was no need and it was an alien game for a cultured player.

Having said that, I’m not quite sure how we replace him and our loss is definitely Middlesex’s gain. They will be getting a man of integrity, dignity and class, all commodities in shorter supply in the modern game.

Thanks Buck. It has been a great pleasure to watch you.