In-vogue to outcast

Australia's babysitting of struggling players has become such a feature of their operations that it is a shock when someone is quietly discarded. While Shaun Tait, Ben Hilfenhaus and Shane Watson have received many cuddles over the past year, along with spots on the national contract list, Chris Rogers' 12 months in the 25-man squad ended with a short phone call from Andrew Hilditch, the selection chairman.

A season that began under extreme pressure as he competed with Phil Jaques for Justin Langer's Test position - a contest that concluded when Rogers had his appendix removed - ended in more unrest. This month he departed Western Australia, his team of the past ten years, and will play for Victoria in 2008-09 after being squeezed from the domestic one-day team, preventing him from adding to his Test-only status in the points system used to determine the national deals.

Rogers scraped into the list of top 20 five-day players, but his position in the bottom three was not high enough to beat Cameron White, Adam Voges or Shaun Marsh to a package worth at least A$160,000 - not including the immeasurable shot of confidence. Despite having made his Test debut when Matthew Hayden was injured for the third Test against India, Rogers missed out to a trio currently viewed as one-day specialists.

Test contenders receive a slightly higher value in the rankings, with a rating of 1.25 for every place on the scale, starting at 20 and increasing with each step to No. 1, while one-day players earn one point per position. The numbers are then combined to determine the top 25.

Rogers was told by the selectors he would remain the reserve opener despite not being one of the chosen ones, but when Hilditch publicly analysed the options he said Marsh, Brad Hodge or Simon Katich could be elevated to the top of the order instead. It was a strange, even callous, approach towards a 30-year-old who has developed into a consistent run-maker in Australia, England - he started the 2008 season with a century for Derbyshire - and on Australia A tours.

A softer strategy has been applied to Tait and Hilfenhaus during their ups and downs over the past six months, while Watson has been wrapped up for years. Hilfenhaus had an ordinary domestic season - with 28 Pura Cup wickets he was not even the best bowler in Tasmania - but was welcomed into the squad for the West Indies until a back injury, the result of an overburdened workload, ruled him out. Watson, a talent as strong as his body is fragile, remains in Australia's plans despite experiencing more snaps and pops than a bowl of Rice Bubbles.

Tait is on long-term stress leave and has been given unprecedented assistance since he realised after Perth, having struggled in his third Test, that he couldn't deal with the international strain. Rogers also experienced a severe let-down from the WACA game, but in this case, with an in-form Hayden back to partner Jaques in Adelaide, the opening dilemma was quickly fixed and did not require long-term vision or supportive phone calls from selectors. With Hilditch saying Hayden, who is 36, can stay until the 2009 Ashes, his panel has decided courting Rogers is unnecessary.

In January the Test tents departed Perth, leaving Rogers as quickly as he'd been called up for the home-ground contest. Suddenly he was alone to contemplate scores of 4 and 15 - the umpire Asad Rauf apologised for the first-innings lbw decision - and his part in the end of Australia's 16-match winning streak. Slowly he regained his focus in the domestic scene and he finished the season with two Pura Cup centuries, one more than Marsh managed for the entire campaign.

Marsh, who effectively took Rogers' contract, had an above average year with 663 Pura Cup runs at 60.27, the fourth most in Western Australia, but behind Rogers' 744 at 43.76. The unbeaten hundred, only Marsh's fourth in seven seasons, came on the day he dropped anchor against Queensland while the Luke Pomersbach and Luke Ronchi whirlwinds stormed to triple figures. A batsman with a reputation for attack, Marsh's four-day season strike-rate of 44.64 was the second worst of the country's 20 most prolific batsmen.

During the FR Cup Marsh, Western Australia's Player of the Year, was also solid in picking up 318 runs at 39.75, although 73 per hundred balls is not the sort of output which normally sways Australian selectors. He led the Twenty20 competition run-list with 290, almost doubling his 50-over tempo, and will go to the West Indies as part of the one-day squad.

Marsh's value in the most abbreviated game has been more convincing than in the traditional forms. The son of the former Test batsman and coach Geoff, Marsh also has an eventful off-field record, which includes problems at the Centre of Excellence and a state ban in November for excessive partying. Hilditch and Co see him in a more generous light.

The upshot is an inconsistent 24-year-old has been catapulted into a national contract instead of a committed opening batsman who has been performing for seasons. In 2006-07 Rogers collected 1202 Pura Cup runs and even in a disrupted campaign the following year, which included two stays in hospital, a disappointing Test experience and being pushed aside by his home state, he outscored Marsh and Voges in the Pura Cup, the competition that matters most. The selectors' logic is difficult to comprehend.