South Africa vs England: Nick Compton ready to shore up defences

England’s batting looks vulnerable to South Africa’s potent pacemen but recalled rock could provide answer

Nick Compton goes on the attack on his way to a half-century in the first warm-up match (Getty Images)

For a team that has lost more Test matches this year than they have won, England are decidedly bullish. This is probably what reclaiming the Ashes does.

They may have lost games to West Indies (who does that anymore?), New Zealand (one each), Australia and Pakistan (twice each) but edging out their oldest foe in a thrilling summer puts a spring in the step, a song in the heart and eternal hope in the breast. They may be playing the world’s No 1 ranked Test side but that has hardly been mentioned in the week since the tourists arrived here in South Africa.

There is a feeling, probably shared by the hosts, that South Africa are in transition if not decline. Both teams have recently been vanquished in Asia. England lost a close series to Pakistan because they could not compete properly in the key moments; South Africa were swept aside by India and a valiant defensive action in the final Test when they batted for 143.1 overs in scoring 143 runs could not disguise the large nature of the reversal.

If that was their first defeat away from home in nine years, now it has happened most observers are tending to suggest that they could see it coming. Safely back at home, they should be a different proposition, but equally it is at home that they have occasionally been careless. Only last year Australia beat them against the odds.

England sense there is vulnerability in South Africa’s batting. They may well be right but it is equally true that South Africa see brittleness in England’s inexperienced order. The seam bowlers on both sides have reason for optimism on pitches that are expected to offer some encouragement.

England will have yet another new opening partner for their captain Alastair Cook, the eighth since the retirement of Andrew Strauss three years ago, a new man at three and a raw No 5. The top-order is unproven at best and the onus on Cook and Joe Root is palpable.

Alex Hales is expected to be the latest poor sap to try to make a fist of partnering Cook and he certainly deserves a bash. Putting aside the assessment of a technique which suggests he is not tailor-made for Test cricket, he might just have the right stuff in his head.

Perhaps England ought to have nominated the man they plumped for in 2012 when they first started what has become an apparently endless search for Strauss’s replacement. Instead, Nick Compton, dropped after nine Tests in which he scored two centuries, has been recalled as the probable No 3.

His job will be to drop anchor and build a platform from which England’s fancier players, of whom there are an abundance, can reach for the stars. Compton, it can be seen now as it was seen at the time by some of us, should probably not have been dropped. The selectors got it into their heads that he was too earnest, that he dropped anchor to the point of strokelessness.

Compton deserves this second act as international player and, bless him, does not intend to change much. What you saw last time is what you will get this time.

“I think being quite intense out in the middle is a good way to be, I think most batsmen are,” he said yesterday after England’s final practice before their second and last warm-up match, against South Africa A. “You don’t want to go over that bridge. It’s a lot to do with form and how you’re doing out in the middle and I’m going to go out there and apply myself in a fairly similar way.”

Compton is a batsman who eschews risk. His method is solid, bat and pad close together, weight of body over the ball. He can drive the half-volley and cut but his innings will always be workmanlike rather than spectacular. In Test cricket, there is a place for that.

Solidity is what England have been lacking for too long. The sort of silly collapse which marred their opening tour match in Potchefstroom last week was a replica of some of their recent displays in Test cricket – against every team they have played this year so far.

If Compton will rightly make few concessions with a bat in his hand he has tried (earnestly, of course) to be a slightly changed character off the field. The death of Phil Hughes, the Australian batsman who was felled by a bouncer while batting a year ago, affected him deeply. He was a close friend of Compton.

“I think that away from the game it is time to enjoy places like this, enjoy tours like this, enjoy the people you’re with and that is certainty what I have done in the last week,” Compton said.

Simply to be here wearing an England shirt again has filled him with joy. There was a hint of acrimony about his omission two years, a veiled suggestion that he did not quite fit into the dressing room. He was frank about his feelings but began to think his international days might be done.

“Yes, for sure there were times when I questioned that, there was no doubt about it. But the hunger and desire were always there, but obviously it’s up to the selectors and various other people to make that decision.

“I didn’t take my chance with two hands and fortunately or unfortunately in sport there’s only ever one person to look at and that’s yourself,” he added. “Hopefully this time I can put that right.

“It took a while to get through, there’s no doubt about it. I think it is a place you have worked for for a number of years and dreamt of as a kid and when you lose it, it does hit you quite hard.”

With Jonny Bairstow retaining the wicketkeeper’s berth, the one place that England may still not have finalised is that of the third seamer. Steve Finn has made a late run after recovering from the injury which curtailed his tour of the UAE and may edge out Chris Woakes, who was England’s best bowler in the first warm-up match against an Invitation XI in Potchefstroom.

But it all depends on the batting. If England do not have to rely entirely on Cook and Root, and Compton’s temperament holds form again, then they may yet spring a surprise.