Australia 222 for 5 (Rogers 101*, Watson 68, Broad 4-48) trail England 238 by 16 runs
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Ugly was beautiful for Chris Rogers and Australia. On the most difficult
day to bat in the Investec Ashes series so far, with Stuart Broad
breathing fire in the sorts of spells he can occasionally conjure,
Rogers scrapped, scraped, nudged and edged his way to a century few who
witnessed it will forget.
From a position early in the day where it looked as though a team total
of around 100 was not out of the question, the tourists reached the
close only 16 runs shy of England's total with five wickets in hand. For
that they had to thank Rogers and his erstwhile opening partner, Shane
Watson.
So long spurned as a Test batting option, Rogers has had to wait until
the shadows of his 36th birthday for a genuine chance, and by playing so
confidently in Manchester and now so doggedly in Durham he has taken it
grandly. Only one Australian, Arthur Richardson, has been older at the
time of his maiden century. Rogers himself seemed to age another few
years as he spent 19 nervous balls on 96, but he summoned a sweep to go
to 100. A few moments later the umpires ended play for bad light,
leaving Australia to dream of building a significant advantage on
Sunday.
It was fitting too that the day's key stand was notched by Rogers and
Watson, a pair who have found themselves ideally suited to bat together,
even though the latter's starts in the series so far had flattered to
deceive and pushed him down the batting order. Their union of 129 was by
a distance the highest of the match, and neutralised much of the near
unplayable stuff served up by Broad.
A Rogers reprieve in complicated circumstances also proved critical to
proceedings. Australia were 34 for 2 when he was given out caught behind
by Tony Hill. On Rogers' referral the ball was found to be missing the
bat but clipping the top of the stumps on Hawk Eye's projection.
England's players assumed Rogers would remain out, but had to be
reminded of the regulations of the DRS by the umpires. As Rogers had not
been given out lbw on the field, Hawk Eye needed to show three reds for
the lbw decision.
Jackson Bird had plucked James Anderson's middle stump to end England's
innings without addition to their overnight total. When England took to
the field, it was immediately apparent that the ball would continue to
deviate. Anderson bent the ball back towards Rogers' pads with some
menace, but it was Broad who found the right combination of swing, seam
and bounce to confound the top order. Returned to open, David Warner's
lack of certainty about the location of his off stump was exposed by
late movement, and he was bowled offering a shot so late it was almost
retrospective.
Similarly, Usman Khawaja was unsure whether to play or leave, and was
too late in withdrawing his bat from harm as a Broad delivery whizzed
across him. It touched the toe of the bat, and Matt Prior held a catch
more difficult than it appeared down low to his right.
Michael Clarke and Rogers then showed a greater intent to score, though
Broad continued to pose problems, even if he burned one decision
referral with an lbw appeal against Rogers that pitched clearly outside
leg stump.
It was with another ball moving back towards Rogers that the morning's
most fevered moment arrived. The ball brushed the back pad on its way
through to Prior, and England went up in appeal for a catch at the
wicket. Hill raised his finger, and Rogers referred, shaking his head as
he did so. It proved a successful referral.
Clarke threw his hands unwisely at a ball moving away and bouncing,
edging a sharp chance to Cook, who held it neatly above his head. If the
shot was poor, it was still a just reward for Broad, who was then
withdrawn from the attack after seven red-blooded overs that had reaped 3
for 23. Steve Smith fought gamely to the interval, but was defeated
soon after it, prodding forward to Tim Bresnan and snicking behind.
At 76 for 4, Watson walked to the middle in the role he had been given
on his debut as far back as 2005. He has shuffled through plenty of
commissions since, and after a poor start to this series might have been
pondering whether this would be the last. He began solidly, keeping out
the lbw seekers arrowed towards his pads by Bresnan, Anderson and
Broad, while at the same time rotating the strike better than he has
sometimes managed.
He and Rogers both had reprieves, Bresnan dropping a difficult return
catch from Watson and Graeme Swann turfing a one-handed chance at second
slip from Rogers. But they steadily wrested back some of England's
earlier supremacy. Rogers was never wholly comfortable, living on his
nerves and his top order technique, but doing enough to mount the tally.
The stand went deep into the evening session, Watson opening up slightly
with a pair of drives redolent of his Twenty20 destructor mode and
Rogers inching ever closer to a century. It was ultimately the
encroachment of that milestone that seemed to disrupt the rhythm of the
pair. Becalmed against Swann, Rogers was unable to break up the strike,
and a persevering Broad eventually had Watson falling across to the
offside, but glancing a catch down leg side to Prior rather than falling
lbw.
Rogers' battle to reach three figures was as compelling as the innings
itself. Having punched his 12th boundary through the covers, he then
agonised over more than three scoreless overs against Swann. One fell
inches short of Broad at mid-on, another spun narrowly past the outside
edge, and a third was centimetres from off stump as Rogers went back to
cut. Cook had brought the field up to starve the single, but left gaps
for a boundary.
And so from his 20th ball on 96, Rogers went for the sweep, a stroke he
seldom uses. It may have been a shot played as a last resort, but the
timing was sweet, and the square leg rope was hit. Australia's team
balcony erupted in adulation and relief, but Rogers was understatement
itself, removing his helmet, raising his bat and sharing the moment with
Brad Haddin. It was a classical way to meet a century, and also an
acknowledgement that more remains to be done. Based on the resolve he
showed on the second evening, Rogers is far from satisfied.
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
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