Rouse made his First Class cricket debut for Hampshire in 2013 against Kent, also appearing once for the county in a one-day game against the touring Bangladesh A team. He was released by the club at the end of the 2013 season, joining Gloucestershire for a two-month spell in 2014. Rouse played in 13 matches for Gloucestershire in all domestic competitions before being released when first choice wicket keeperGareth Roderick returned from injury. He also featured for Surrey and Kent's second eleven teams during the season. Following his release by Gloucestershire, Rouse qualified as a personal trainer, a move he later suggested had allowed him to play cricket "with a bit more freedom" and provided a "plan-B". At the beginning of the 2015 season he acted as temporary wicket keeper cover for Kent but was not signed to a longer term contract. In January 2016, following Ryan Davies' departure to Somerset, Rouse signed a two-year permanent contract with Kent. He made his Kent first-class debut in a University match in April 2016, replacing Sam Billings who was playing in the 2016 Indian Premier League. Rouse became Kent's regular wicket-keeper in Billings absence at the start of the 2016 season and by the end of May was leading the first-class wicket-keeping dismissals with 26 victims. Once Billings returned to Kent Rouse became the reserve 'keeper, although he continued to play when Billings was injured or on England duty, making eight appearances for Kent during the season. His season was cut short following two finger dislocations during Kent's County Championship match against Glamorgan towards the end of June, a game in which Rouse made his maiden first-class half century. A fracture resulting from the injuries required surgery which side-lined Rouse for ten weeks and he did not play for the first team for the remainder of the 2016 season. With Billings once again on England duty and playing in the 2017 Pakistan Super League, Rouse began Kent's 2017 season as the first-choice wicket-keeper, playing in all of the county's matches in the 2016–17 Regional Super50 tournament in the West Indies and topping the team's batting averages in the competition. He scored his maiden List A half-century in the team's final match of the tournament playing as a specialist batsman. Rouse continued to keep wicket at the start of the 2017 County Championship season, taking 13 catches and making a new first-class highest score of 95 not out in the first block of matches before signing a new contract with Kent in late April. He played in Billings' absences for Kent throughout 2017 and again in 2018, playing occasionally as wicket-keeper in games Billings also played in, and made one first-class appearance for Surrey in July 2018 in a tour match against West Indies A with Surrey suffering from a shortage of available wicket-keepers. Rouse retired from professional cricket at the start of the 2020 season which had been delayed due to the covid-19 pandemic.
