BEN’S BACK
Stokes trains for First Test after rushing to dad’s bedside But Pope is latest player to be struck down by virus
BEN STOKES is set to play one last time in his allconquering 2019 in today’s opening Test in Centurion after his father began his recovery from serious illness.
Ged was admitted to hospital in Johannesburg on Monday night and England star Stokes missed training on Christmas Eve to be at his bedside. He trained fully yesterday once his father was in a stable condition. Ged is in South Africa with several
JOE DENLY has been backed to put more meat on his ever improving Test career by inspiring England to Boxing Day glory in South Africa from No3.
That is exactly what Nick Compton managed to do four years ago in Durban when his 85 set the platform for a 241-run Christmas win over the Proteas.
It also set the foundations for a 2-1 series victory that would do just nicely for skipper Joe Root after failing to win a Test series in 2019.
And Compton believes
Denly, with four fifties in his last five matches and fresh from his first century in an
England shirt in the warm-up match in Benoni, will have plenty more gifts for his team-mates over the course of the series.
“Batting in the top three it is your job to set the game up,” said Compton.
“And that is what Joe Denly has been doing more and more with each chance he gets.
“I’ve been really impressed with the way he has shown that he has an all-round game and is far more than a strokemaker.
“He has a great defence and he has shown against Australia and New Zealand that he can be brave and score tough runs.
There’s no doubt he’s got all the shots, I saw plenty of that in county cricket but he’s added to that and it would be nothing less than he deserves if he can get that hundred at Centurion.”
Compton certainly deserved a ton back in 2015 when he and James Taylor added 123 for the fourth wicket and gave fans a glimpse of a batting line-up that was expected to flourish for years. Neither man plays cricket any more through retirement and a medical condition respectively but South Africa remains a place close to both of their hearts.
“It was fun batting with James and putting on a partnership that really helped the team,” said Compton. “Kingsmead was such a special ground for me because I had grown up as a kid near there and had actually helped out the groundsman there when I was about 12.
“There was a moment when Alastair Cook got out and I was almost waiting to see who would walk out to bat and then I realised I had the pads on and it was me getting to do the thing I had longed to do. I had to work so hard to get the runs I did and I put so much pressure on myself and in the end that is not sustainable.”
Compton is smart enough and self aware enough to know that his 16-Test career was more of a battle than it should have been, and he could have done with the kind of support that Denly is rightly getting.
At the time, his more traditional style of play was under scrutiny and he was accused of batting too slowly, so does he now chuckle that England are demanding their top order essentially bat the careful way he used to?
“I do have a little bit of a chuckle,” he said. “I didn’t see why people were in such a hurry, there are five days so use them.
“England are looking for guys who can bat a whole day and they are hard to come by.
“I hope England get off to a great start on Boxing Day and go on to win. It is not going to be easy but it is a great feeling to win away from home and they should fancy their chances.”
England are set to continue with the fiveman pace attack that they used in their last Test in Hamilton with both Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer, above left, fully recovered from the flu-like illness that has plagued their preparations.