No place like home

Lord’s ton will always remain special for Rogers

No wonder he wanted to sell tickets to this.

Chris Rogers has waited for his last match at Lord’s – a ground that feels as much his own home as it is for cricket itself – to produce the biggest and most significant innings of his career.

It was something more than special.

Rogers shifted the Ashes momentum back in Australia’s favour on day one of the second Test with a memorable 158 not out and then later hinted that his original decision to retire at the end of this series may not be as final as it seemed.

On the eve of the tour Rogers created a storm in a teacup in the English press when a company he founded was busted by the ECB trying to sell hospitality packages to the Lord’s Ashes Test.

But a misunderstanding like that with home county Middlesex was never going to put even the slightest dent in the infallible bond he shares with every nook and cranny at his sacred Lord’s ground – where he has played so many years and scored so many hundreds but was yet to make a Test ton.

From the doorman to the curator to the Long Room barman, Rogers is old friends with them all, and his experience here is essentially the reason why his Test career was reignited in the first place two years ago, aged 35.

Former Test captain Steve Waugh told Rogers before he ran out to remember “this is your ground”. The now 37-year-old never looked back, producing a Test-high knock that piloted Australia to 1-337 at stumps – a potential turning point in the 2015 Ashes.

“It’s just something I can be so proud of,” Rogers said after the match. “I scored a hundred at the MCG, a hundred at the SCG and for me to get one at Lord’s, was kind of the trifecta. “It’s so special. “I have got so many friends here, so many great memories and I call it home. Steve Waugh said to me … go out and really make it count.”

The ticket-selling drama was deemed so serious by some, Rogers was even asked at a media conference if he was prepared for the fact he could go to jail for it.

But it was a media report delivered to his hotel room before this second Test that really got a rise out of him.

Rogers is frustrated at assertions he is hanging on too long in the Australian team, and suggested when this series is over, he may reconsider his original pointers to calling it quits.

“It (this innings) was important for many reasons. First and foremost if it’s to be my last series I really wanted to contribute – and then it’s at Lord’s,” he said.

“And then I actually read an article today in The Times where people think you get older and you don’t know it’s time to retire.

“I feel I can still contribute to this side and make a difference and that kind of spurred me on.”