Stuart Rogers - Somerset Captain

Somerset Captain

Rogers captained Somerset for three seasons of mixed fortunes. The 1950 season saw the side finish equal seventh in the Championship, and eight victories were exceeded by only three teams. "Once more volatile Somerset falsified prophecies of a poor season," wrote Wisden in its review. It went on: "The appointment of an inexperienced player to lead a side forced to make experiments seemed like a leap in the dark, but as the summer advanced deeds spoke louder than words and in the end an adventurous policy was fully justified."

Rogers' own contribution was 1030 Championship runs, 1127 in all matches, including his first century, 101, batting at No 7 against Northamptonshire at Frome. In this innings, he hit three sixes and nine fours, and shared a seventh wicket partnership of 182 with Harold Stephenson; Rogers and Stephenson were responsible for several late-innings fast-scoring partnerships in Somerset matches in 1950.

Rogers' second season as Somerset captain, 1951, was more difficult than the first. The side was dependent for wickets on a trio of spin bowlers, Johnny Lawrence, Ellis Robinson and Horace Hazell, with the last two both past 40. In 1950, runs had come from several team members: in 1951, Maurice Tremlett made more than 2,000 and Harold Gimblett 1,400, but no one else apart from a couple of irregular amateurs averaged more than 20. Rogers made only 784 runs in Championship games with a top score of 58, although his season average and total was improved by an unbeaten 107 in 160 minutes against the South African touring team. This was to prove his highest score in first-class cricket. With both batting and bowling inadequacies, Somerset fell back to 14th in the Championship, with only five victories and 15 defeats.

Worse followed in 1952. Gimblett made 2,000 runs, and the rest of the batting was marginally improved over 1951, but inability to take wickets at reasonable cost consigned the side to the bottom of the Championship table for the first time since 1913. Only two matches were won all season and, Wisden reported, "even these meagre successes were due as much to the spin of the coin as the turn of the ball. When Somerset won the toss in the Bath Festival they triumphed over Middlesex and Warwickshire and when they lost it they went under to Leicestershire." Wisden noted too that morale was low: "General slackness, particularly in fielding, was Somerset's biggest handicap. Until the whole club develops a more enthusiastic spirit as portrayed by Gimblett, they will continue to disappoint their faithful supporters."

Rogers himself had a mediocre season: he made 841 runs in the Championship, with a third and final career century, an unbeaten 102 in Gimblett's benefit match against Northamptonshire at Glastonbury. At the end of the season he stood down from the captaincy, and though he appeared again in nine matches in 1953, he was not successful and left first-class cricket.