Rogers pondered retirement in Brisbane

If, as Australia's newest Test batsman Joe Burns has suggested, Chris Rogers might consider prolonging his career a few more years then the veteran opener is giving no indication he agrees.

Rogers, who today captains the Prime Minister’s XI in the annual Canberra feature match against the touring England one-day team, has reiterated that he is likely to draw the curtain on his 16-year first-class career at the end of this winter’s Ashes series in the UK.

Providing he is selected in the touring party, he is quick to add.

Given his return in the recent four-Test Commonwealth Bank Series against India in which he was Australia’s third-most prolific batsman (behind stand-in skipper Steve Smith and his opening partner David Warner) that would seem a reasonable likelihood.

Rogers hits his sixth fifty of the summer

Burns, who earned his call-up to the Australian middle-order for last month’s Boxing Day Test on the basis of his returns as an opener for Queensland, is being touted as the likely replacement opener when 37-year-old Rogers finally decides to call time on his late-blooming career.

And while acknowledging that might present an opportunity for him down the track, Burns was quick to point out there was no immediate suggestion that the Australia selectors are looking for the batsman who can partner Warner in future Test series just yet. 

"The way Bucky (Rogers) is going, he could play on for another three or four years," Burns told News Corp papers yesterday.

But Rogers is as a much a pragmatist as he is a survivor, and he knows that it’s his vast experience and skill in English conditions (as a long-time county player and recent captain of Middlesex) that has him in the frame for the 2015 campaign to retain the Ashes on British soil.

When asked about his long-term plans in the lead-up to today’s Prime Minister’s XI match, in which he will captain emerging talents the calibre of Pat Cummins, Jason Behrendorff, Peter Handscomb, Cameron Bancroft and Luke Doran, Rogers took a realistic view.

"With the amount of cricket I’ve played and the length of time I’ve spent there (in the UK) it would be maybe a great way to finish,” he said of the chance to be part of the first Australian team to win an Ashes series away from home since 2001.

"I'm really looking forward to that if I get selected.

"It would round everything off and mean a lot.

"It would mean I've completed or been part of something big so that would be an ideal way to finish, so we’ll have to wait and see."

Rogers had earlier conceded he contemplated calling an end to his Test career during the second Test of this summer in Brisbane when he was struck a frightening blow on the back of the head by Indian batsman Rohit Sharma while fielding close to the bat at short-leg.

It was a much-unloved fielding position that was previously occupied by Smith who, upon being appointed as captain in Michael Clarke’s absence, responded to Rogers’ query in their first team meeting that the veteran opener had drawn the short straw.

He copped his first hit in the hip on the final day of the first Test in Adelaide when Clarke was off the field with a serious hamstring injury, but it was the strike in Brisbane – coming so soon after the death of Phillip Hughes who was struck on the neck by a bouncer – that made him question the wisdom in playing on.

Rogers struck on helmet during Gabba Test against India

Immediately after being hit in Brisbane, Rogers could be seen trying to avoid teammates who were checking on his welfare and he all but pushed away team doctor Peter Brukner when he ran on to the field to examine the rattled fielder.

"I didn't do very well (with the bat in the Adelaide Test) so I wasn’t happy with my own form," Rogers told Melbourne radio station SEN explaining his state of mind at the time he copped the second blow.

"Then we went up to Brisbane, and day one I was under there and Rohit Sharma swept one and he hit me in the back of the helmet, and it’s only inches away from where Phil got hit.

"So you just have different thoughts go through your head. 

"That night I was pretty upset, so I just wasn't sure which way to go. I had to speak to a few people close to me.

"It was an interesting time after what happened with Phil. 

"There are a lot of guys who are finding it pretty hard. 

"Mortality hadn't really been an issue in the game."

While Hughes’s tragic death placed a lot of what happens on the cricket field in an altogether different context, there are some elements of Rogers’ game that he has no intention of altering.

Like his belief that his game, custom-made to blunt the new red ball and built around his capacity to bat for long periods of time, will never be suited to the 20-over format of the game, and even the 50-over version that he has played so much of in England.

Regardless of his performance in today’s limited-overs fixture at Manuka Oval, the left-hander has no plans to make himself available for the final portion of the KFC Big Bash League where he previously spent time as a member of the Sydney Thunder franchise.

"I wouldn't have thought so, my back's a bit sore at the moment," Rogers said when asked if the unavailability of many international players for the final stage of BBL04 might lead him to consider a final cameo in the ultra-abbreviated form.

"I'm quite happy with my career is at, and that’s probably the longer version.

"My memories from the (Sydney) Thunder weren’t the fondest – we didn’t win a game so maybe those days are gone for me."

And while his Test days appear set to continue into the short series in the West Indies as well as the Ashes campaign that follows immediately on its heels, Rogers has some idea of the path he’ll be taking when he does draw stumps on his career.

Or won’t be taking, at least.

Despite being nominated to lead the Prime Minister’s team as a late replacement for original skipper Michael Hussey who injured a calf muscle playing for the Thunder last week, Rogers does not see the endorsement from the nation's top office as a chance to pursue a political career.

Especially when his appearance at last January’s Sydney reception to honour Australia’s Ashes-winning team, at which the Prime Minister was event host, is better remembered for Rogers’ impromptu dance routine rather than the fact he was nowhere to be found when first called to the stage.

"I think I turned up late to the Opera House last year so maybe I’ve got a few things to make up for,” Rogers said.

"But it’s a great honour to be selected and I look forward to having a great day and making sure it’s a fantastic event."

Rogers's fancy footwork in Sydney