Now he’s taking hundreds off some of the best attacks in the country. The rest of the time, Compton was playing for Wimbledon, or Richmond, or Plumtree, or slogging away in the county second XIs. In 10 years of trying to get ahead in English cricket, he’d played five first class matches for Nottinghamshire, when he’d made 98 runs at an average of 14 and a top score of 20. He came here from South Africa when he was 19.
This time just last year, Compton was playing for Plumtree in the Nottinghamshire Premier League, against Radcliffe-on-Trent, Cavaliers & Carrington, and Kimberley Institute, picking off runs against club bowlers who had played for a minor county, or had a match or two in first-class cricket.
