FORMER South Wilts cricketer Chris Rogers was poised to make his Australia Test debut this week.

Rogers, who was South Wilts' overseas player during the club's successful 2005 season, was named in the Australian team to take on India in the third test at the WACA in Perth, after opener Matthew Hayden failed to recover from a hamstring injury.

The left-handed batsman has been on the verge of the national team for some time, but an appendix problem ruled him out of contention for the Sri Lanka series, the first since Justin Langer's retirement, in which Phil Jacques took his chance.

Rogers' skipper at South Wilts, Rob Wade said: "Chris was always confident that he could go on to play Test cricket and he's been proven right.

"His South Wilts team mates will all be keeping a keen eye on his progress in the match."

Victory in the Test match would give Australia a world record of 17 consecutive wins.

Rogers has considerable experience of the English game, making numerous appearances for Shrop-shire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Northants.

He scored 575 runs to help South Wilts to the runners up spot in the Southern Electric Premier League during 2005.

That summer he also scored a double century for Leicestershire against his home country during Australia's Ashes tour.

The 30-year-old was born in Sydney and represented Australia at under 19 level as well as playing for Western Australia.

His father, John played for New South Wales.

2:14pm Wednesday 16th January 2008

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