Rogers ready, Starc shrugs off ankle trouble

BIRMINGHAM , July 28 

Australia’s opening batsman Chris Rogers has survived a stiff examination from his bowling teammates in the nets but expects England’s pacemen to come even harder at him in the wake of his dizzy spell that forced him to retire at Lord’s.

The 37-year-old lefthander is on track to pad up for the third Test starting Wednesday barring a return of the symptoms that cut short his second innings on 49. Rogers feared he had suffered another bout of concussion following the head knock at training that ruled him out of both the Tests against West Indies but subsequent tests showed it was an inner ear issue. “If it was a concussion, I would have definitely thought that maybe that was it (for my career),” Rogers said after training on Monday.  

Mitchell Starc can also be expected to be at full throttle, the left-armer declaring his ankle a non-issue for the rest of the series after he bowled through Lord’s without any of the trouble that dogged him in the first Test at Cardiff.

Starc has been on a regime of cortisone injections to try to fast-track his recovery and is likely to keep taking them.

Nevill gets nod ahead of Haddin

Peter Nevill has got the nod ahead of Brad Haddin as Australia’s wicketkeeper. 

Captain Michael Clarke said selection chairman Rod Marsh and coach Darren Lehmann had spoken to him about their decision to play Nevill but refused to rule out a possible return for Haddin, 37, in the future. “I’ve really loved having him as vice captain and he’s performed exceptionally well,” Clarke said today. “He’s still working hard and will now wait for his opportunity.” 

Haddin, who has 66 Test caps, played in the opening game but sat out the second for family reasons. — Reuters