Nick Compton Slams England’s Selections For Ashes 2021/22 Before Must Win 3rd Boxing Day Test

Dec 26, 2021 at 6:20 PM

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Nick Compton Slams England’s Selections For Ashes 2021/22 Before Must Win 3rd Boxing Day Test

Nick Compton has termed England’s selections as “woeful and reactive” ahead of their must-win Boxing Day Test. Nick Compton also decried England’s management in dealing with wicketkeepers Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler, believing the latter was a “four years wasted experiment”.

He also slammed the use of spinner Jack Leach, saying he felt “sorry” for the left-arm spinner. England coach and sole selector Chris Silverwood made four changes for the third Test after consecutive defeats left the tourists on the brink of yet another calamity Down Under. But still, England was bowled out for 185 in the 3rd Test.

Nick Compton is not convinced about the wicketkeeping situation. (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images
Nick Compton is not convinced about the wicketkeeping situation. (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

Nick Compton Slams England’s Selections For The Ashes 2021/22 Making Changes Continuously As England Don’t Trust Their Batting Line-up

Just once since the mid-1980s have England won on Australian shores, with Andrew Strauss’ fine team of 2010-11 defeating Ricky Ponting’s rebuilding side 3-1. Yet ever since being smashed in 2017-18, England should have planned accordingly to win back the urn.  Nick Compton, who played 16 Tests at the top of the order from 2012 and 2016, however, said the selections of the opening two Tests were the antithesis of planning.

“Let’s be frank, the selections have been woeful and reactive,” Nick Compton said.

“Clearly there’s been so little planning and it’s all reactive. They didn’t have much choice. Carry on what they’re doing or try and get the team right having hopefully learnt from the mistakes of the past two Test matches, ” said Nick Compton.

Nick Compton was one of the more than 20 openers used in the years after Andrew Strauss retired from international cricket in 2012. Since then, England’s issues have largely centered around their inability to find an established and consistent top three, which has only been exacerbated by the retirement of Alastair Cook. Their struggles to consistently post scores and apply pressure on oppositions has compromised their entire team.

“The problem with England is they’ve picked the wrong team because they don’t trust the batting line-up,” he said.

“So a guy like (Chris) Woakes, who let’s be honest has a woeful record overseas i.e. in Australia, but because he can bat and because England’s top six isn’t strong enough they’ve played him. Jos Buttler’s not even in the top four-five keeper’s in the country, so why isn’t there a specialist playing and again it’s because the top six isn’t good enough. Ben Foakes and John Simpson are the best two keeper batters in the UK, so there’s all sorts of issues. I think the changes are necessary.”

Nick Compton believes Jonny Bairstow, who missed selection for the opening two Tests, is just the right man to come back into the side. Jonny Bairstow, who made the 2016 ICC Test team of the year, averages just over 33 but previously averaged well into the 40s. Ever since Jos Buttler became a regular in the Test side in 2018 though, the runs have dried up for Jonny Bairstow who has not averaged more than 31 since the end of 2017.

“Jonny Bairstow, he’s a fighter and I think England need a bit of that fighting quality and experience, someone who is capable in the middle-order,” Nick Compton said.

“There’s been a lot of criticism about Jonny of late, but in my opinion the introduction of Jos Buttler is when everything, if you look at his stats, that’s when everything ruined him. He’s a sensitive character and England should have known that and when he was batting at seven and keeping for England he was the world’s best Test wicketkeeper.”

Rory Burns Getty Images
Rory Burns Getty Images

Nick Compton believes it comes down squarely to playing two wicketkeepers in the side.

“Jonny’s a complicated character,” he said. “He’s a very intense character. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think as soon as Jos Buttler came in, the threat system would have been up. He should have just been left alone. He was averaging 40 plus and doing pretty well. When Jos came in they started to manufacture the order and Jonny went up the order and started batting in different positions to get Jos in and that affected him.”

“There’s no doubt about that. It’s an experiment that has given Jos a lot but I don’t think it’s given English Test cricket much. Jonny will end up being wicketkeeper and batting again, and I think this four-year experiment has been a waste of time.”

England has made a change at the top of the order by dropping experienced opener Rory Burns. The 31-year-old, who has also played 31 Tests, scored just 47 runs across the opening two Tests. Yet the left-hander looked his most confident in the second Test in Adelaide where he scored 34 before edging behind.

In his place, they have called up 23-year-old Zak Crawley, who averages just 28.34 from 15 Tests which is only fractionally less than his first-class average of 31.33. They are hardly numbers to demand Test selection. Nick Compton says the right-hander’s game will be well-suited to Australian conditions but questioned whether they axed the right man, believing he should have come in for Haseeb Hameed.

“I would have gone the other way actually,” Nick Compton said.

“I would have dropped Hameed and I would have played Crawley and Burns and the reason I say that is, you can go on about Burns’ technique but it’s worked. It worked at first-class level. I also think that was a poor decision because I think he played better in the second innings of the last test match.”

“With Crawley, he hasn’t scored runs, he doesn’t score first-class runs, but he obviously has something they see in him, his technique is simpler and therefore can be coached and I think if he’s going to succeed as a player Australia has to be a track to play on, he’s a stroke player, the ball comes on, he plays the short ball well. It’s a no brainer.”

At the time of his Test debut in New Zealand two years ago, he averaged 30.55 in the Championship; 15 matches into his Test career, he averages 28.34. After the first eight Tests, in which his constant improvement was capped by that 267 against Pakistan, he averaged 48.41; while across his last seven Tests in 2021, that figure is a mere paltry 11.14.

Nick Compton:  It Would Be A Real Test Of Character For Jack Leach Who Was Expensive In The 1st Test

Nick Compton also said spinner Jack Leach was on a hiding to nothing after being dropped for the Adelaide Test. Jack Leach, a hero from Headingley in 2019, was treated with contempt in the first Test by Australia’s batsmen and went for 1-102. The decision to drop the experienced spinner came back to bite them in Adelaide where they went in without a spinner on what proved a turning wicket.

“You’ve got to feel sorry for Jack Leach,” he said. “In terms of challenges and in terms of testing someone’s mental capability, if this game isn’t that then I never know.”

Jack Leach Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Jack Leach Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

“I mean, the guy’s hardly played a game in eight months, clearly and obviously the management don’t rate him, neither does the captain, he didn’t play on a spinning track in Adelaide.

“Now to be called in and the ‘saviour of the Ashes’, because if England is going to win the spinner’s going to perform at some point, especially in Sydney, I mean, it’ll be remarkable if he can perform and turn it around. It’ll be a real test of character.”

The left-arm spinner Jack Leach could only bowl 13 overs because he conceded 102 runs in them at a staggering economy rate of 7.8 in the 1st Ashes Test and was dropped for the 2nd where England didn’t field a spinner on a turning track.

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