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Nick Compton's
hopes of featuring in the Ashes have been thrown a lifeline by the
England selectors after it was confirmed that he will play for
Worcestershire against the touring Australians in a four-day match
starting next Tuesday.
On his 30th birthday, 48 hours after he was omitted
from the England team to play Essex in the pre-Ashes warm-up match,
Compton's defiant 81 for Somerset against the Australians made plain his
fervent desire not to be left out. The England selectors have proved
they remain interested in fulfilling Compton's wish by facilitating his
availability to face the tourists for a second time ahead of the first
Investec Ashes Test, which begins on July 10.
ESPNcricinfo understands that the England management have requested
Somerset release Compton from Friends Life t20 duty - a competition in
which he was not necessarily going to feature anyway - and that
Worcestershire have agreed to find room for him in their side.
While Geoff Miller, the national selector, had stated that England saw
Joe Root as "currently the best opening partner" for Alastair Cook when
announcing the England squad to play Essex, the move to involve Compton
in next week's tour match is a sign that the door has not been closed on
him entirely.
At Taunton, with Miller's words ringing in his ears, Compton began
unsteadily against James Pattinson's outswing but reeled off a string of
pleasant shots in an innings that fell 19 runs short of a timely
century when Michael Clarke took an agile, juggled catch from the spin
of Nathan Lyon. Compton was steely in approach but did not appear
restricted by his intensity, as in recent times, scoring his runs at a
brisk pace off front and back foot.
As telling as any of Compton's aggressive strokes was a moment of
defensive composure to dig out a Mitchell Starc yorker that was
screeching towards leg stump before his bat jammed down. Starc's
subsequent success with the second new ball showed how sharp Compton had
needed to be at that moment.
Lyon's dismissal of Compton was deserved, for it was the offspinner who
had come closest to defeating him earlier when a beseeching lbw appeal
was declined. Compton had offered no shot to an offbreak that spun back
from outside the line of the stumps.
When dismissed Compton swished his bat in frustration, as much at
Clarke's successful juggle as missing a century. But even as he trudged
off the ground, perhaps fearing that the England career he had won for
himself little more than six months ago was slipping inexorably away,
moves were afoot to give him another chance against Australia's bowlers.
George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
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© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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