I had to draw the line for David Warner: Chris Rogers

Chris Rogers and David Warner wasn’t the most natural of pairs as far as opening batsmen are concerned while Warner has always been that kind of a player who likes to race away with things Rogers had his own approach where he kept time in hand and constructed his knock with the grace of an architect. But despite the difference in the way they looked at things the duo had a successful partnership as openers for Australia and their impressive numbers enhance it further.

Warner and Rogers as partners scored 2053 runs together in 41 innings with an average opening partnership of 51.32. If the averages of Australian openers are taken into consideration, they are placed above Mark Taylor and Michael Slater- 51.14 and they are second only to Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer who had an average of 51.88.

The 39-years old who played his last Test for Australia in August 2015 released his autobiography ‘Bucking The Trend’ this week. In the book, Rogers has given a detailed account of occasions when he got so sick of Warner’s outspoken ways that he felt he had to draw a line in the sand.

“While we were fielding, he (Warner) yelled at me from across the field that I wasn’t being vocal enough, a moment where I felt I had to draw the line,” Foxsports quoted Rogers from his book.

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“It was a windy day, so the fact I had been offering encouragement to our bowlers must have been lost on the breeze. So I stopped the game and yelled right back.

“The argument went back and forth for about 45 seconds, much to the bemusement of the batsmen and the amusement of everyone else.

“At the end of the day I went up to Davey and said, ‘Right, we’ve got to discuss this. I don’t care who you are, you never yell at me in the middle of the game. If you’ve got a problem, come and say it to me in private.’

“Davey listened, never did again and we were better for it.”

They opened the batting for Australia for a long time after the incident until Rogers eventually retired on the conclusion of the Ashes 2015 in England.

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