Australian opener Rogers bids Test cricket adieu

Cook this week said he considered quitting as skipper during the first Test against the West Indies in April, shortly after being replaced as captain of the one-day side.

Wood returned for the fourth Test at Trent Bridge where England regained the Ashes with an innings-and-78-run victory, the 25-year-old contributing 28 runs and claiming figures of three for 69 in Australia’s second innings.

But Cook said the only consideration for England in selection was picking a side to win the series 4-1, with no England team ever having won four Tests in a home Ashes series.

That burden has now been laid to rest, leaving Cook with a final opportunity to produce a major Ashes innings, one to add to his 27 Test centuries, an England record.

That means another watching brief for Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid, the Yorkshire pair who have travelled around the country without seeing Ashes action this summer. A good stock of fast bowlers is a prerequisite for any top side. He’s got to go out there over the next five days and score runs.

Clarke’s men failed to counter the seaming, swinging Dukes ball on the first morning as James Anderson and Stuart Broad ripped apart the tourists’ line-up with career-best Ashes figures.

“Criticism is certainly warranted but I’m looking forward to finishing this series on a high”. It was they built for, going unbeaten into that series for two or three years.

In short, Australia’s good showing in the final Test two years ago was no surprise based on the way that series had progressed.

It has not worked out that way, much as the same plan did not work out for England in Australia last time around. He and Chris Rogers will definitely be gone while Brad Haddin and Shane Watson are no longer first-choice players. Since starting in 2004 he averaged more than 40 in all bar one season, in 2007, when he played only seven matches and averaged 22. “For now, I won’t be involved with Australian cricket”.

Rogers also expressed happiness that he was able to prove many doubters including Australian great Greg Chappell, wrong with his talking with the bat.

However, before England start planning for foreign trips and 50-over contests, there’s a Test match to win at the Oval.

He was giving nothing away, after England had shown him their best on the football pitch, about who had the silkiest skills in a squad containing at least two – Yorkshiremen Adam Lyth and Jonny Bairstow – who flirted with the winter game in their youth. Try and go out there and play as positive as possible to win this “series” 1-0.

Rogers will leave with mixed feelings, but confidence too that he is definitely ending his Test career at the right time.

In terms of changes, it is likely that all-rounder Mitchell Marsh will come in to the side after coach Darren Lehmann admitted that the selectors had erred by not selecting him at Trent Bridge.