Exile and “awful” centuries: Inside Tom Rogers’ journey to state selection

Exile, “awful” centuries and a mountain of runs. We go inside Tom Rogers’ journey to becoming a state cricketer.

Tom Rogers

For Tom Rogers, there’s a sense of accomplishment, a feeling of appreciation, but ultimately, there’s unfinished business.

Premier Cricket’s most prestigious batting product over the past three years has finally got his foot in the domestic door, signing a contract with Victoria last month.

Rogers, 24, has made 2187 runs at an average of 64.32 in his three most recent summers at Ringwood, plundering nine centuries – including one double ton – and seven fifties in just 37 knocks.

And while his contract status has been a steady topic of conversation within Premier Cricket circles, Rogers is grateful he has been made to wait.

“I think how it has all worked out is the best thing for me,” he said.

“I remember missing out when I was 18 or 19 and I have a close relationship with my manager Zach Whelan and he just said ‘it’s hard to hear right now but I think it’ll be way better for you’, and he was right.

“I think I am a lot more ready to be a cricketer than I was at that age, you never know how you’re going to go, there’s so much unknown but the bigger and more important part for me is that I think I am more ready as a human being than I was at 18,19.

“I think I would’ve got chewed up and spat out pretty quick if I was contracted at that age.”

Tom Rogers. Picture: Stuart Milligan

Rogers hits the ball to the boundary. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Before his run-laden career at Ringwood, Rogers began as a talented teenager with all the shots at Melbourne University.

He had four seasons in the Students’ First XI before being informed at the end of 2018-19 that he was no longer in the club’s future plans.

While he felt “blindsided” and contemplated waving goodbye to cricket for good, his move to Ringwood would prove pivotal in his journey.

A modest Rogers says if he were to go back in time and talk to the version of himself that played 51 matches at Melbourne University, he would deliver some hard truths.

“It would be really hard for me to take at the time, I am sure, but ‘stop thinking about higher honours’,” he said he would tell his younger self.

“I was a chronic thinker about it, I would think that everything I did would result in something or another and how I could play a futures game.

“I was probably never present, that would be the biggest piece of advice.

“My first year at Ringwood I wasn’t in any of the academy stuff, so it was completely on me to get better.

“After leaving Uni, it (state cricket) was the furthest thing from my mind, it became just about playing cricket.

“I fell in love with the game again and it became natural for me to not think about it.”

Rogers at Melbourne University. Picture: Arj Giese.

Rogers wasted no time in making his first century for the Rams, taking Casey South Melbourne for 100 from only 126 deliveries.

While he labelled it an “awful” knock, he was able to appreciate the concept of making runs, as opposed to critically thinking where it could potentially propel him.

“It’s probably the best thing about Ringwood, since I started there it’s never been about getting a contract or playing games,” he said.

“Guys like Fot (Matt Fotia), Brendan Walsh and David King have helped me actually enjoy the game.

“I remember my first couple of hundreds for Ringwood were terrible, I got dropped three or four times, a Casey South Melbourne one especially – it was awful.”

Although his state contract has been a long time coming, he holds much higher goals, mainly surrounding his fitness, admitting it – and his preparation – has cost him runs in the past.

“Mine is pretty simple, I want to get in and have a red-hot crack,” he said.

“I want to get really fit, really strong, I want to train really hard.

“I have never had a really good crack at the gym or been really fit, if I can do that then I will give myself the best chance.

“I believe in myself that if I can do all those things, it can work out.

“It happened to me this year, I think it was more my preparation but a bit of fitness as well.

“Both Prahran games I didn’t eat dinner or breakfast and I came in after lunch, where I also didn’t eat, so I haven’t eaten in a long time and I felt physically and mentally tired.

“In both games I got 40 or 50 and lofted and missed balls, it’s definitely happened to me, so it will be good to learn the best way to prepare and fuel myself.”

Tom Rogers during a Second XI match for Victoria.

Rogers plans to develop his red-ball game within the Victorian system and is hopeful to lean on a teammate who has flourished while playing with a similar aggressive streak.

“I think it’s the really exciting thing for me,” he said of red-ball doubters.

“I definitely know that people think of me as a white-ball dasher and that’s fair, I definitely am that, but I want to find my own way of finding red-ball runs.

“There’s a few guys I can take a lot from, like Shorty (Matt Short) and how he is going about it.

“You don’t have to get 100 off 250 balls but there is going to be tough times and you have to get through, so just finding my own way to get through is a challenge I am really keen for.”