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[Satchmo Distel]

Ian Bell has been dropped for the series in South Africa. I would assume that's the end of his international career, unless the replacements have disastrous tours.

[diggedy derek]

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:'-(

A beautiful player.

Glad to see Compton back though. I'm really perplexed to see Plunkett dropped. What have Jordan and Woakes done to be ahead of him in the Test reckoning?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

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The thread title puts me immediately in mind of the internet poll to name the stands at the Etihad, that was quickly aborted when Colin Bell's name attracted too many entries.

[Ray de Galles]

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Satchmo must have been constantly monitoring the cricket websites on a 24 hour basis since the summer to ensure he got in with that thread title.

[nmrfox]

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diggedy derek wrote: :'-(

A beautiful player.

Glad to see Compton back though. I'm really perplexed to see Plunkett dropped. What have Jordan and Woakes done to be ahead of him in the Test reckoning?

Completely agree. His form and it looks like his confidence has fallen off a cliff. Wonder if he regrets that rash shot off Lyon when he was playing really well at Edgbaston in the first innings. The crowd were willing him to make a big score and he seemed so well set that when he skied that catch, the atmosphere went completely flat.

[jameswba]

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Of all the openers since Strauss finished, Compton was the most harshly treated. He's more of a test opener than any of the others.

Liked Selvey's Guardian piece on Ian Bell.

[longeared]

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Hard to avoid the thought that they've recalled Compton only because they've run out of alternatives.

[jameswba]

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longeared wrote: Hard to avoid the thought that they've recalled Compton only because they've run out of alternatives.

That's another way of saying he's the best there is. As a test-opener, I can't really see why there's ever been doubt. He did well in that India tour - a very under-rated win for England that one - and in NZ. A few low scores against NZ at home and he was out. There just always seemed to be more pressure on him to justify his selection for some reason.

These last two years, England might as well have set the scoreboard at 0-1 and sent whoever was No 3 out with Cook from the start.

[nmrfox]

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If I remember correctly, didn't Compton make some ill-advised comments about selection policy and as such has been pretty much frozen out since then?

[longeared]

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He did, yes. (warning; page contains an ad with sound)

Compton's scores look quite reasonable now compared to the players who have been picked since, but it didn't feel at the time as if he was presenting a watertight case to open for the next five years.

[diggedy derek]

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The rumour is that some of the Compton beef stemmed from his supposedly not wanting to take to the field because of (I think) a shoulder injury - what was perceived as not pulling his weight was probably more like a genuine injury concern. Communication wasn't great before, and was non existent afterwards.

More broadly though, he just didn't seem to fit into a team that seemed full of hot shot pros and the top of their game. Very different now.