'A hundred in the Boxing Day Test would be as good as it gets'

He has got a habit of saving his best for the last but Australia opener Chris Rogers this time wants to score a century first up - on the opening day of the
upcoming Boxing Day cricket Test against India in Melbourne starting December 26. 

The 37-year-old veteran batsman made 55 in each innings of the second Test in Brisbane where the hosts won by four wickets to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. 

"To go out and play in a second Boxing Day Test, that's something you dream of and can't take away. Hopefully, I can get a score because I do like playing here. A hundred in a Boxing Day Test, as it was last year, would be as good as it gets," said Rogers. 

At the same venue against England last year, Rogers followed up a first-innings knock of 61 with a century in the fourth-innings to secure a convincing eight-wicket victory for the hosts. 

At the Gabba last week, Rogers struck 10 boundaries in each knocks, and his second-innings 55 came off just 57 balls as Australia posted an easy win. Australia lost six wickets in the chase of 128 but Rogers said the team's attacking approach was a deliberate ploy. 

"Those short chases are always a little bit tricky and I think you've got to try and get them done quickly," he said. "So once the opportunity was there to play a few shots I took it and it fortunately came off. Despite the wobble at the end I always thought we were going to get home." 

The fourth-innings specialist has scored two centuries and two fifties in nine innings while batting the second time in a match at an average of just under 50, compared to his overall mark of 35.94. 

His best last-day performance in Test cricket came against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in February, when he fought tooth and nail against a rampaging Dale Steyn and Co to score 107 out of Australia's total of 216. 

"Sometimes for an opener (the fourth innings) is the best time (to bat). 

"The new ball tends to do more at the beginning of the game and then it settles down. I think also it helps when I have a target in mind. I know exactly what I need to do and I can kind of tailor the way I play to what needs to happen."

Image: Chris Rogers

Photo: Getty Images