Alastair Cook’s personal divisions leaving England’s campaign in chaos

Alastair Cook’s personal divisions leaving England’s campaign in chaos
2 HOURS AGO JULY 21, 2015 7:05PM

KEVIN Pietersen isn’t the only South African sitting on a beach, blackballed from rescuing England’s collapsing Ashes campaign.
Opening batsman Nick Compton, who has played nine Tests for England and possesses a reputable defensive technique, also spent the weekend sunning himself, having also been unofficially banished as a result of a fall-out with selectors and captain Alastair Cook.
It seems not much happens in the selection room without Cook’s approval.
He was reportedly against a reprieve to Pietersen and pro Jonathan Trott’s bizarre and short-lived recall.


There are rumours of personal differences between former opening partners Cook and Compton — the grandson of the legendary England run-wizard, Denis.

Kevin Pietersen has been more vocal than usual about not being selected in recent days.

Like Pietersen, Compton has been vocal about expressing his belief he’s been mistreated and they both have their own websites, publishing stories about themselves.
Between Pietersen tweeting incessantly from Miami (“Deep in thought right now … ridiculous that I’m lying on a beach when I should be in UK prepping for the 3rd Test! So silly really! Sad!”) and Compton seemingly stuck in county cricket — it would appear the personal divisions that tore apart the England side are now impacting new coach Trevor Bayliss’ ability to fix the chronic batting issues that resulted in one of the worst losses in Ashes history.

It certainly leaves the bench looking pretty thin for Bayliss who is desperate to reinvent a top order that has chronically failed to be three down for 43 or less in seven of their past 13 innings.
Aussie Sam Robson looks to have been scratched from the equation, with the Sydney-born opener without a Test in nearly 12 months having been bumped for Cook’s man Trott in the West Indies earlier this year.
There’s unproven short-form talent Alex Hales who had a nightmare in the Big Bash League last summer and barely played a role in the World Cup.

And finally Jonny Bairstow, who is in top county form and firms as the most likely inclusion despite scoring just one half century in his 11 previous innings against Australia.
Moeen Ali could move up the order, if only Mitchell Johnson hadn’t completely exposed his weakness against the short ball in just three balls at Lord’s.
Bayliss admits he’s flying blind with little knowledge of the county system.
However, he did hint at two clues, dropping Bairstorw’s name as a middle-order option and the prospect of playing two spinners at Edgbaston, which would see Moeen shift up the order to accommodate Adil Rashid.
“From that point of view, I’ll be relying pretty much on the others,” Bayliss said of his Tuesday selection meeting.

Nick Compton has been banished to county cricket.

“Bairstow obviously I know of and a few of the guys in the one-day team (possibly Hales). But any names that haven’t been on the international scene in the last little bit, I haven’t got a big knowledge of.
“If a batter is in form in any style of the game (they’d be looked at).”
Compton is no world beater with a Test average of 31.93, but with two hundreds, he has the best record of any opener to have played for England since the retirement of Andrew Strauss … with the one exception of Joe Root.

Ben Stokes caught short in embarrassing fashion

However, there is no way England is going to move Root too far away from the middle-order spot where he has been so pivotal in recent times.
Compton went through a bad lean patch before being dropped from the side two years ago, however a perception that he faked injury appears the reason why the door has been firmly shut on him ever since.
The 32-year-old copped a blow to his rib during the 2013 Test against New Zealand in Leeds.
Compton told medical staff he wasn’t able to field, before scans came back showing he hadn’t suffered a cracked rib as expected, but nothing more significant than bruising.
Fingers were pointed and Compton has been locked out ever since.