Rogers' hundred is perfect retort

Third ball of this match, Chris Rogers stretched out to drive at a James Anderson delivery sloping away from him. Rogers' feet and hands were not quite there in time, and the ball flew away off the outside edge. Looking back towards the cordon, Rogers expected to see a fielder's hands close around the ball.

In Cardiff, the Dukes ball would most likely have sailed at catchable height and been gobbled. But at Lord's there was enough bounce for it to fly narrowly over the heads of Ian Bell and Joe Root. To many at the ground, particularly those who had been present in Cardiff, it felt like the first moment of the series to run Australia's way. Thanks to Rogers and Steven Smith, the rest of the day would follow suit.

Much as it has been for the Australian team as a whole, this tour has proven to be rather more vexing for Rogers than he had hoped. The harbinger was an unexpected concussion in the West Indies, causing him to miss both Tests. Next, shortly after arrival in the UK, the story of his ill-advised attempt to sell hospitality packages to Lord's had Rogers being asked if he realised he could go to jail for that sort of thing.

Finally at Cardiff, an otherwise excellent first innings was curtailed by a bout of nerves in the 90s and a fretful edge behind. Rogers' world record run of seven consecutive Test match half centuries was broken in the second, and as Australia slid to defeat his agitation was clear. "We're better than that," was Rogers' view of a first innings that featured no fewer than four scores in the 30s, and in the days between Tests his attitude was unchanged.

Much criticism was levelled at Australia's batsmen after Cardiff, not least on these pages. On the morning of the Test, Rogers even read an article in The Times by the former England captain and widely respected correspondent Michael Atherton, stating that in late career phases it was often hard to know when to draw the curtain. Even if Rogers has stated he was looking at this tour as his last, he was in no mood to let it fall this week, as a 0-2 Ashes deficit would effectively do.

"If it is to be my last series I really wanted to contribute and then it is at Lord's and then I actually read an article today in The Times where people think you get older and you don't know it is time to retire and I feel I can still contribute to this side and make a difference and that kind of spurred me on," Rogers said. "It's a great achievement to win the toss and bat through the whole day."

The focus Rogers found was akin to that which he has habitually used to dominate St John's Wood for Middlesex. His Anglicised technique, all furtive, repeatable movements and late decisions on where and how to play the ball, has been familiar to county watchers for some years. But he had the anguished memories of the 2013 Test to overcome. Given lbw missing a Graeme Swann full toss in the first innings and leaving a ball from the same bowler that clattered off stump in the second, it was not a fair summary of his abilities.

This time around, Rogers walked out having also been told by Steve Waugh that "this is your ground" off the back of the huddle where the former captain gave Peter Nevill his baggy green cap. These thoughts recurred throughout a day where his drives, back cuts and leg-side nudges endured across the day, in the company of Smith's more flamboyant strokes.

England's confident visage during and after Cardiff had set the Australians back, much as Rogers had found himself battling against forces and circumstances more testing than he had expected in a country where he has prospered so much in the past, whether on or off the field. But he took it upon himself to change that momentum, and from the moment that early edge carried beyond the slips, he was able to do so. A pristine cover drive two balls later rather underlined the point.

"I think we came into this series riding the crest of a wave and thinking we were just going to come in and take England down," Rogers said with typical candour. "But to suffer a heavy loss like that put us back in our place and made us question ourselves a little bit. I always think when you're having a tough time it comes down to individuals to change the momentum and hopefully Steve and I have made a bit of a statement and showed our change room as much as anyone that we can get the upper hand on England."

At the end of the day, Rogers and Smith walked off undefeated, through the Long Room and back into a dressing room that was united in their gratefulness for a stand of 259. It was just one run short of the highest partnership for Australia at Lord's, between openers and now commentators Mark Taylor and Michael Slater in 1993, but its value to the psyche of the team was rather more than that. Rogers' highest Test score may well prove to be his most important, as the Ashes series turns back towards Australia.