LONDON, (Reuters) – Australia’s opening batsman Chris Rogers has survived a stiff examination from his bowling team mates in the nets but expects England’s pacemen to come even harder at him in the wake of his dizzy spell that forced him to retire at Lord’s.
The 37-year-old lefthander is on track to pad up for the third Ashes test at Edgbaston starting today barring a return of the symptoms that cut short his second innings on 49.
Rogers feared he had suffered another bout of concussion following the head knock at training that ruled him out of both tests against West Indies but subsequent tests showed it was an inner ear issue.
“If it was concussion, I would have definitely thought that maybe that was it (for my career),” Rogers said after completing training at Edgbaston on Monday.
“It was a really weird sensation. It just looked like (the Pavilion at Lord’s) was going from left to right, and almost like my eyes were jumping.
“A really bizarre sensation, kind of scary and I wouldn’t have been able to continue, so that’s why I went off.”
In career-best form, Rogers smashed 173 in the first innings of Australia’s emphatic win at Lord’s where he was struck in the head by a James Anderson delivery on the first ball he faced on the second day.
He said he expected to be similarly targeted at Edgbaston where the pitch has shown a green tinge after some wet weather, exciting pacemen on both teams.
“I’m not stupid, I know they’ll come even harder at me, but who knows?
“It looks like a green wicket, so if they’re bowling short that may work well for me. “They’ve still got to pitch it up at some stage, but I know full well they’re going to come hard — that’s part and parcel of opening the batting.”
Rogers’ team mate Mitchell Starc can also be expected to be at full throttle, the left-armer declaring his ankle a non-issue for the rest of the series after he bowled through Lord’s without any of the trouble that dogged him in the first test at Cardiff.
Starc has been on a regime of cortisone injections to try to fast-track his recovery and is likely to keep taking them. “Compared to what it was in Cardiff, it was miles better,” Starc said. “Those cortisones I’ve had have started to kick in and it can only get better from here.”
The five-test series is level at 1-1.