To carry on the legacy of a grandfather who was an icon of English cricket is not easy. That’s what Nick Compton found out for himself when he first arrived at Lord’s, the home of Middlesex county which Denis Compton represented right throughout his brilliant career from 1936-64 scoring 136 first-class centuries, 17 of which were for England from 78 Tests.
“When I grew up in South Africa I was born in Durban to an English family I was a young sports mad kid. At that age I’ve no idea the status of my grandfather but when I first came to England at 12 I stayed with him and it was at Lord’s, Middlesex that I saw my dreams starting to cultivate,” Nick Compton told the DAILY NEWS.
“I got to know my grandfather very well before he passed away. I understood the more time I spent at Lord’s how good he was. No doubt there was pressure but fundamentally he just cultivated those dreams like a (Brian) Lara or a (Sachin) Tendulkar. I wanted to emulate him, the desire and ambitions the genes and family background I had it inside me.
“But I found it difficult being at Lord’s - all the time the expectations were a lot higher. Going to Somerset where I spent five years was a chance to be my own person, develop my own style in a team of stroke players. I dealt with it pretty well I think and I am hugely proud that I had a famous grandfather who had such a great reputation. I liked to carry that legacy on and I’ve done my best played in 16 Test matches scored two hundreds and played almost 200 first-class matches. If you offer that to me as a 12-year-old boy walking around Middlesex I would have taken that.”
It is ironic that Nick’s international career with England ended two years ago against Sri Lanka and at Lord’s where he made 1 and 19. He was never selected to play for his country after that poor series where he averaged 12.75 with a highest score of 22.
“The last year and half for me in England hasn’t been easy. I’ve got to a point where following my last Test match which was actually against Sri Lanka my game hasn’t been in a great place,” said Nick. “I had two major surgeries to my shoulder and neck. It can happen to any sportsman I wasn’t enjoying my batting fundamentally. It’s so important to enjoy what you do every day. I was training and practicing but I just couldn’t find any rhythm I thought I was being inconsistent.
“Fundamentally what has always driven me is the ambition to play international cricket, the hunger and drive to score runs and to be consistent. In the last 1½ years I haven’t been. I played this game 17-18 years professionally. Losing my Test place was a big disappointment I realised that I wasn’t even playing to half of my ability, but that’s Test cricket. You can’t call for your chance, sometimes you are playing when you are not playing well. The great thing about this game is you have to perform when it matters. You have to somehow find a way,” he said.
Nick’s best memories of a short Test career are scoring a match-winning 85 against the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel coming to bat at 12 for two against South Africa at Durban, the venue where he grew up and being a member of the England side that won the Test series in India where Sachin Tendulkar told him that his partnership with Alastair Cook was one of the main reasons why England won the series. “That was a really a big thing for me. I averaged 35 and for a debut series in India it wasn’t too bad.”
LEARNING TO EAT LUNCH WITH MY HAND
Nick is currently in Sri Lanka playing for Sri Lanka Ports Authority CC in the ongoing Premier league tournament and apart from trying to recapture his lost form he is also helping the club to find its proper identity as a professional unit.
“Coming to Sri Lanka for me was an opportunity to get away a little bit. We also know that the English winter is not a great place to be training and play. I spent many years in India, I love my photography and I love travelling. I met some great Sri Lankan people over the years and I’d always wanted to come to Sri Lanka as part of an experience,” said Nick.
“I met a friend of mine Maduranga de Soysa who played a bit of first-class cricket over the last few years in England and he suggested coming over here. He spoke to Omesh (Wijesiriwardene) and between Omesh and me they made it happen. I like to thank Omesh for getting me here and giving me the opportunity to help some younger players. Your career goes through a lot of stages. In your twenties you are ambitious and focussed, it’s all about playing for England and getting runs, but now I am looking at the game a little bit differently. I really like to see young players who really have the desire to excel to come to a country like this and learn the different styles of cricket,” he said.
Omesh who was responsible for getting Nick down to Sri Lanka said, “I played 12 seasons in the English league with Dartford that’s where I met Nick and developed a friendship. He was keen to come to Sri Lanka and as coach of the Ports Authority team I arranged for him to play for us this season. Nick coming here is a great thing because the youngsters are benefitting a lot from his experience. We hope to end up at least in third place in the tournament. We could have performed better if Nick had not fallen ill soon after arriving in Sri Lanka. He started off with a half century and then fell ill and at one time he wanted to return home. However I managed to convince him to stay and now he has recovered and has got accustomed to the conditions here and enjoying himself. We have plans for him for the future because there is a lot to learn from him. I hope he will return to us next year as well.”
Within a short space of time Nick has fitted in well with the Ports Authority team and its players.
“The players have been brilliant I cannot speak highly enough for them even for the opposition teams. The conversations I’ve had I am learning some of the languages, eating lunch with my hands I’ve leant the technique. My dad played for a black team in South Africa when he grew up he was a big fan of apartheid. I always had the underdog inside me and to come to a country where there is a different culture for me it’s about embracing it, understanding their ways and not trying to impose my British ways but actually learning from them,” said Nick.
“I fitted in quite well and some of the words I’ve learnt sound quite funny. What I really enjoyed is I like the passion. A lot of international cricket now has become a bit stale due to lack of personality in the game. What I enjoyed about here is the people are vocal at times they can be hard on each other on the field but I like that. I like when people express themselves. Some of them have played club cricket in England and they understand me. When I first arrived there was a little bit of apprehension what’s this English guy doing here?
“I am trying to bring in a little bit more discipline, a little bit more structure. There’s no doubt there’s a huge amount of talent here but from a Sri Lankan perspective I can see some frustrations maybe because Sri Lanka aren’t performing at the level they could. I feel that too. I am really bringing in some structure, some discipline and professionalism to this game. If you add that to the disciplines here, to the structure, I have no doubt that there are the cricketers and the talent to flourish,” Nick observed.
Having experienced the Sri Lanka first-class club system for over a month and represented Ports Authority in their matches played so far Nick expressed surprise that a bowler like left-arm orthodox spinner Chanaka Komasaru has been overlooked for national selection.
“What I see in the team is a fantastic group of players. There is a guy called Komasaru in our team how he is not playing in the Test team I don’t understand. I’ve faced all the best spinners in Sri Lanka and no one is as half as good as him. You can speak to the umpires, coaches or to anyone and no one knows why he is not playing. He takes five wickets in every game he is 34 years old, prime age for Test cricket. He is fit and bowls 30 overs a game. It’s not for me to make selections but we have to open our minds,” Nick said.
INSPIRED BY LANKA WINNING WORLD CUP
Nick believes that he was driven to playing international cricket after watching Sri Lanka win the 1996 World Cup. “I remember so many great images of the 1996 World Cup where some of my heroes Aravinda de Silva, (Sanath) Jayasuriya and the way that (Arjuna) Ranatunga really galvanised that Sri Lankan team and stood up to the Australians and winning the World Cup was a very strong image for me growing up and wanting to continue my dreams of playing international cricket.”
Nick firmly believes that Sri Lanka Cricket should make use of cricketing legends like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to inspire the youngsters.
“When you look at the examples of Sangakkara and Jayawardene these guys are disciplined individuals. I was fortunate to play against Sanga this year, what an individual? Educated man, his practice, his work ethics, his understanding of the game this is the type of people that needs to be interacting with your players all the time. Cricket boards have to get past senior players with this experience working with the young players all the time and making them realise that this is the level it requires,” Nick said.
Making a comeback to the England side is furthermost in Nick’s mind. “In terms of England from my point of view I’ve always been very driven in terms of getting re-selected it’s something that I’ve put out of my mind now. Maybe I got slightly intense about it I wanted it too badly. What I’ve learnt now is the most important thing for me is to enjoy my cricket by helping others, feeling I am having a good impact on a good young side. That for me will hopefully start build momentum. I feel like I am an experienced guy.
“There’s no doubt I still have the attributes to play but looking at that I am trying to put it out of my mind. If it happens it’s great it’s a bonus but right now by putting my mind into helping some younger players, seeing a great country maybe my good form could come back,” Nick said optimistically.
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