Rogers keen to take coaching path

Chris Rogers, one of few Australian cricketers to master English conditions in recent years, is keen to pursue a career in coaching.

Rogers has confirmed he will join Michael Clarke in retirement after the fifth Ashes Test.

The opener, who turns 38 later this month, plans on then taking a break from cricket before deciding what comes next.

Another county season with Middlesex isn’t out of the question but coaching is already in the back of Rogers’ mind.

“I definitely see that as an option, I enjoy that. I had a little bit of a taste of it with the Aussie under-19s and it was fun,” Rogers said.

“It’s something that may be there in the future.

“But I think initially I just need to take a break and see what options come up.”

Rogers has been somewhat of a consultant for the touring squad during the five-Test series, having played all over England while scoring almost 25,000 first-class runs.

The left-hander noted county experience would help Australia in the 2019 Ashes, but visa restrictions made it a hard path for players to go down.

Rogers agreed it was worth looking at Ricky Ponting’s suggestion of using the Dukes ball in the Sheffield Shield leading up to an Ashes.

But the veteran felt the best solution to his side’s miserable collapses and inability to deal with the swinging ball in England was to start young.

“First and foremost we have to maybe change our coaching techniques from an early age,” Rogers said.

“It’s going to be difficult now with the level of Twenty20 and the money that’s in that format of the game, but we have to make our players more adaptable.

“That’s going to be a real challenge for our coaching the future.”

Rogers insisted he would not be missed, reeling off the names of Cameron Bancroft, Jordan Silk, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Usman Khawaja, Chris Lynn and Joe Burns as some of the young talent ready to step up.

“There’s always going to be good players who come in and I think the environment is right now,” Rogers said.

“The people who are involved will continue the tradition. Maybe a couple of years ago there were a few things that weren’t quite right, but I believe it’s in good hands.”

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