Prolific Rogers stays positive

The old sentiment "every boy's dream" will be bandied about unsparingly during the Ashes but Chris Rogers knows better than most that for every dream there is a less glamorous reality. While Rogers is riding the most productive period of his career, he is sitting quietly on the outer of Australia's plans, slipping further from the Test inner circle following the emergence of Phillip Hughes and Marcus North.

Despite scoring more than 2500 first-class runs in Australia and England in the 2008 and 2008-09 seasons, Rogers, the tenacious Victoria opener, hasn't been given any indication that he could add to his one baggy green. Not that the absence of reward comes as any shock to Rogers. He has been touted as one of Australia's best batsmen but isn't mentioned very often as a Test contender. When he failed to win a 2009-10 national contract it was just one more blow to add to the rest of them.

"Not overly surprised, more disappointed I'd say," Rogers told Cricinfo of missing out on a contract. "I kind of don't get a great feeling from the selectors, so because of that, I thought I probably wouldn't. But if you look at the stats and those kinds of things, then maybe I did deserve to get one. But that's the way it goes and people make their decisions, so unfortunately I didn't get one.

"I can't do anything about it, I've done everything I can to probably deserve a spot. Obviously I will probably be a little bit upset that more opportunities haven't come along, but it's something that if you worry about too much, then it just gets on top of you. I try and stay positive and not worry about it too much, and hopefully one day another opportunity will come along."

As captain of Derbyshire, he will again push to be one of the heaviest scoring Australians in county cricket, while the Ashes series unfolds around him. It becomes yet another fraying twist in Rogers' successful, but ultimately underappreciated career, which included a hundred in his first Championship game of the season.

For years, the public knew less of him, sitting well back in the shadows of the batting queue behind Hussey and Hodge, Love and Lehmann, Katich and Clarke. A mammoth 1202 Pura Cup runs in 2006-07 finally brought a Cricket Australia contract and his sole Test chance arrived when Matthew Hayden was injured in January 2008. And then, as abruptly as recognition had come, it was gone.

"Of all my seasons, that was the most that was up and down," Rogers said of his 2007-08 summer. "I missed out, then I had the appendicitis, then I played the Test, then I got dropped again, then I wasn't even playing for WA. So it was interesting, and is kind of hard to deal with at times, but you've just got to take all those good times out of it and remember those."

Rogers replied with 1195 Sheffield Shield runs in 2008-09, eight shy of overall leader Michael Klinger, having already made a mountainous 1372 for Derbyshire in 2008. Statistics aside, of equal esteem was the fluid transition he made to Victoria. As well as finally establishing himself as a one-day player, he won the Bill Lawry Medal as the state's best player in their triumphant Sheffield Shield season.

"The challenge was to fit in at Victoria and it was never going to be particularly easy, but in the end it was fantastic," he said. "I made a lot of friends, and we had some success. So I really enjoyed it and I probably would put it up there with as good as summer as I've ever had.

"The older you get, the more team success becomes the most important part of playing sport. I hadn't even been lucky enough to play in a Shield final, so I was really looking forward to that, and we played and deserved to win, so that will be one of the highlights that I'll remember for the rest of my career."

There is a security in team success too, which is much more fulfilling than individual pursuits. After 10 years near the top for only one Test, Rogers understands better than most the vagaries of "every boy's dream". Asked if he receives much contact from the national selectors on his progress, he answered with: "No ... but then I'm not part of the squad."

"They've never really spoken to me and said why not," Rogers said of his axing at the end of last summer. "I know Andrew Hilditch [the chairman of selectors] told me when I was no longer required in the squad to go away and score runs, I think I did that and that didn't seem to work."

Despite being only 31, Rogers knows he might become part of the infamous list of prolific batsmen whose Test chances were brief - or non-existent - due to the legacy of the dominant Australian era. By the end of his career, he may be considered less fortunate than most. Rogers averages 51.68 in the Sheffield Shield. Of some other unlucky players like Jamie Siddons, Jamie Cox, Stuart Law, Martin Love, Jimmy Maher and Brad Hodge, the highest average is Love's 45.23.

The game also serves a bizarre irony in that when scoring mountains of runs is not rewarded, the greatest ease from the pain is to simply continue scoring runs. So how does Rogers sustain his passion for cricket when it brings such disappointment?

"It can get a little boring [the endless first-class circuit], and it can get a little hard when it's 10 degrees over here and you're playing in the cold and wet," he said. "I remember once I complained to my friend that it was going to be a hot day and I was going to struggle in the field, and he just said 'I'd rather be running around there all day then sitting behind a desk'.

"I've always remembered that comment and for me, I'm very grateful of my lifestyle. I can't really complain and when times do get tough, you've just got to remember how lucky I am."