Ashes 2013
Victim or brave move?
July 4th
As Australia get quietly on with their Ashes preparations,
there is only one story in town: the man who will not be there when cudgels are
raised next week. When Nick Compton was taken aside and told that his efforts
against New Zealand had not been up to scratch, he was also told to go away and
make some runs. Initially, it was not quite clear to everyone whether Joe
Root’s move to open was an experiment in a warm-up, or definitive: we know
better now. Not only is he not in consideration for the 1st Test, he
is not first choice as batting cover in case of injury, because he is an opener
and if the injury is to a member of the middle order England will look to a
middle order batsman as a replacement. In fact, this is being economical with
the truth: for much of his career Nick
Compton has played in the middle order, starting at 7 for Middlesex and still
plays in the middle order for Somerset in limited overs games. Becoming an
opener was an adaptation born of necessity to get opportunities.
After a poor run of innings against New Zealand, which
lasted just 3 Tests, his scores in First Class matches have been: 166, 18, 15,
56, 81, 34, 79. That is 449 runs in 7 innings at 64.1. Lest one think that he
is doing it against weak attacks, 194 of those runs have come against Australia
and most of the rest against Durham and Middlesex, who have both got powerful
seam attacks. He is averaging 51.2 in Division 1 of the County Championship,
topping the batting averages for a struggling Somerset this season. Whatever
Nick Compton’s issue is, he is hardly short of runs.
However, it is true that, from the start, his form for
England has not convinced and, even in India, people were openly speculating
that maybe he was not good enough. 208 runs at 34.7 in the series was adequate,
but not exceptional, although it was also pointed out in his defence that Cook
and Compton were giving England solid starts, time and time again. All that
talk vanished overnight as centuries in the first two Tests in New Zealand saw
his average climb rapidly to 47.2 after six Tests. On March 15th one
could say that his place was cemented for the entire summer. Yet, such is the
fickle nature of averages when one has played few matches that three more Tests
have seen his average plummet to 31.9, a level far from acceptable for a
specialist bat. Six innings since that second century have produced just 54
runs and, rather than being secure for the entire summer, he has survived just
the first two Tests of it.
The sequence of Compton’s Test scores is 9, 37, 29, 30*, 57,
9*, 3, 34, 0, 117, 100, ‒, 13, 2, 16, 15, 1, 7. In seventeen innings he has
reached 30 just six times. Even when he reached a century, the innings was cut
short very quickly, rather than going on to a really big score. You cannot help
thinking that if that 100 and out in Wellington had been converted into 160, he
would not be watching from the sidelines now: in each series he has fallen just
short of convincing the sceptics that he is the long-term solution for England.
Yesterday Nick Compton gave a candid interview that,
long-term, will almost certainly not help his case. He is upset and feels that
he has not been given a fair chance. He also feels understandably put out that,
having been told to go out and get runs, he has got them and found out that
they have not made a jot of difference: he is out, he is staying out and even
if there is an injury he is unlikely to be “the next cab off the rank”. Many
fans around the country feel sympathy with him. The selectors though are
unlikely to be happy that he has gone public with his dissatisfaction over his
treatment.
Nick Compton is, in part, an innocent victim of the actions
of others. Joe Root has been so astonishingly successful (twenty-six innings
for England in Tests, ODIs and T20 have brought him just three single-figure
scores and, at the same time, he has also been used as a bowler, with striking
success, in sixteen of his twenty-four matches), that anyone else pales in
comparison. Despite just a single century in those twenty-six innings, such is
his consistency that Root averages 46.1 over all formats (6 Tests, 16 ODIs and
2 T20s).
The selectors are concerned that Nick Compton is a weak link
at the top of the order and would be targeted by the Australian attack. By
replacing him with Joe Root they hope to ensure that Australia do not receive
the encouragement of obtaining early breakthroughs. This though comes with a
risk attached. By moving Root up, the selectors are opening a hole at six that
everyone assumes will be filled by Jonny Bairstow. He though has had just nine
innings in the last two months and only three, one of them in a T20, the others
in the Essex knockabout, since the New Zealand Tests ended. The selectors are
trusting that the fighting spirit that he showed last year to come back from a
chastening Test debut with an outstanding series against South Africa, will
help him through. Scores of 41, 5, 64 and 26* against New Zealand have
convinced them that he is the right man for a re-modelled batting order that
has to find a place for Kevin Pietersen, presumably: Cook, Root, Trott,
Pietersen, Bell, Bairstow, Prior. Effectively, Nick Compton is the one to have
made way for the return of Pietersen from injury.
So, the selectors have effectively made the tough call that
Root opening and Bairstow at six will produce more runs and give more security than
the combination of Compton opening and Root at six. I have to admit that I have
been one of the sceptics about this. However, series are won and lost with the
tough calls. In two months time we will know if the selectors have read it
right brilliantly, or made a serious mistake.
Back to events at Worcester…
At the start of play on Day 3 Australia were in a dominant
position, but Worcestershire needed just a single run to avoid the follow-on. A
heavy defeat for Worcestershire seemed inevitable, but at least the match would
be extended into a fourth day.
Having seen the follow-on saved quickly in the morning,
Gareth Andrew did the decent thing and offered Ryan Harris, who had had to
watch powerless as Jackson Bird cut a swath through the batting, the
encouragement of a wicket by snicking through to Brad Haddin. The last two
wickets though added 36 as the numbers 10 and 11 hung around for another eleven
overs, taking time out of the game and reducing the deficit to 112, meaning
that the Australians would at least have to work to set up a declaration. That
said, there seems to be a campaign by the English bowlers to get Phil Hughes
into the Test side at all costs: before Tea Australia were scoring at 8-an-over
and Hughes was going at a strike rate better than one-a-ball. After Hughes fell
for 86, the next 13 overs produced 115 runs: it was not obvious whether it was
a case of Australia accelerating for a declaration, or a diabolical plot to get
Michael Clarke to damage his back by hitting too many fours and sixes. Only
Jack Shantry, son of Gloucestershire’s Brian Shantry, managed to escape the carnage
with any respectability, taking 2-62 and bowling two of the only four maidens
in the entire innings.
Chasing a nominal 457 to win, the crowd was treated to the
somewhat unnatural spectacle of Compton and Pardoe (career average 23.6)
setting off at a breakneck pace, with 29 off the first four overs. One wondered
if Compton’s reaction to events would be to go after the bowling and make the
sort of big score in quick time that would make a point so effectively.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. Seeing Nick Compton scoring at around a
run-a-ball could only lead to some kind of divine punishment, in this case
supplied by the admirable young Agar, who tempted him out of his ground, left
him floundering and had him neatly stumped. Out for 26. A match aggregate of
105. And, once again, a little short of what he really needed to convince his
critics. It has been the story of this last eight months.
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