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New mentor Rogers eyeing young talent

Former Test opener has wasted no time spotting some of the best young batsmen from around the country

Having a hand in unearthing and nurturing the next Michael Clarke or Steve Smith, rather than just spotting them from the commentary box, has led Chris Rogers right back to a place he’s always felt comfortable; the team dressing room.

And although the former Test opener’s coaching career has only really begun, he may have already gone some way to finding Australia’s next gun batsman.

Cricket Australia last week announced Rogers would take over from Matthew Elliott as the high-performance coach tasked with guiding the best young batting talent in the country.

The 40-year-old has dipped his toes in the coaching waters over the past 18 months since finishing up his nearly two-decade long first-class career in 2016 both in the United Kingdom, where he's worked with county sides Somerset and Gloucestershire, and at home with various Cricket Australia tour match and underage sides.

The shift to a full-time role, which will see Rogers relocate to Brisbane to work at the CA's Bupa National Cricket Centre, is a signal of his coaching ambitions.

He lists the likes of Jake Doran, Tasmania's leading JLT Sheffield Shield run-scorer this season, along with teenagers Jack Edwards and Jake Carder as some of the more impressive young batsmen on the scene.

But he singles out Jason Sangha, Australia's U19 captain whom Rogers worked closely with at this year's World Cup in New Zealand, for some special praise.

"He's a fantastic player. There's qualities of Michael Clarke about him and Steve Smith as well," Rogers told cricket.com.au.

"The way he works on his game, his dedication to it. Even his captaincy is so impressive.

"When he wasn't training, he'd be in the gym running. He'd be doing his homework on opposition bowlers.

"It just looks like he's given his life to cricket and he's got that touch of class about him."

Nov 2017: Sangha joins Tendulkar with England ton

Rogers' frank and often unique views on the game have come through in his commentary of Test cricket on ABC Grandstand over the past three summers, and he hopes to continue providing some insight into the game through that medium.

But rather than passing judgment on his former contemporaries, Rogers admits there have been times where he wanted to be back in the Australian dressing room he occupied for 25 Tests – not to pull on the whites, but to offer a quiet word of advice.

"What it came down to was the satisfaction you get out of helping someone improve and making a difference," Rogers said.

"I really like commentating but sometimes I felt like I was just talking about someone rather than being able to get involved and making a difference.

"Hopefully people got a bit of pleasure out of my commentary. But for me the real satisfaction comes down to working with people individually and in a team and helping them – that's what's going to drive me to chase the coaching route."

Yet, as Rogers sagely notes, knowing when to offer input is equally important as having something to say.

"It's a little bit frustrating when you think you can help," he continued.

"I've found with coaching though, you're not always right. Some people like what you do, others might struggle to understand.

"But the fact I knew the passion was there (to coach) was a good sign."

The left-hander, who scored five Test centuries and more that 25,000 first-class runs but largely struggled to adapt his dour method to T20 cricket, understands too well the challenges that young batsmen face.

So difficult did Rogers find using the trusted technique that was so effective against the new ball in cricket's shortest format, that he's resolved each form of the game needs demands completely separate approaches.

"There's so much more to batting these days than there was 15 years ago," he explained. "The fact is you have to learn two techniques.

"The way you try and hit a ball in T20, particularly at the death when you're trying to clear the rope, as opposed to the way you try and hit the ball in red-ball cricket is fundamentally different.

"The way your hips move, the way your shoulders move, all these kinds of things.

"Not only the fact they're having to learn two different techniques, but (also) trying to differentiate between the two, must be so challenging.

"I see a lot of techniques in the longer version which I shake my head at and say, 'that can't be serious'. But then later I understand why these players' techniques have evolved like that, because they have different motivations these days as well, different influences.

"The challenge is to try and get players to understand the differences and how they go about it and what it feels like."