Nick Compton bitter after being dropped by England for Ashes

Opening batsman scores half-century for Essex in warm-up game against Australia before opening up about exclusion for series against Australia.

Nick Compton, right, scored a second consecutive fifty against Australia on Wednesday. Ryan Pierse / Getty Images

Nick Compton struggled to conceal bitterness over his treatment by England after impressing against Australia for the second time in a week.

Having been dropped for England's pre-Ashes warm-up against Essex, Compton was making a one-off appearance for Worcestershire and made a dogged 79, two less than he scored against the tourists for Somerset last week.

But while he has responded well to his demotion on the pitch, his post-match comments were those of a man who feels aggrieved by his dropping and does not expect to be back soon.

"I don't feel that I had a fair crack of the whip," he said. "I don't really know where things stand to be honest.

"I got told I had been dropped. Your guess is as good as mine.

"Would you drop me for an Essex warm-up game and then pick me [for the Ashes]? Isn't that messing a few people around? I don't know.

"Andy Flower said go away and score runs. I have done that. How many runs is scoring runs?

"It's been disappointing of late but I'll keep fighting on because I regard myself as a fighter. Time and time again I get asked to make responses and I feel like I do that every single time.

"People doubted me when I got picked for England; people doubted me in India; they doubted me when I got nought in New Zealand and then I scored two hundreds but they even doubted me after that series.

"I feel like this was a very good response actually. Last week was a very good response too."

Compton's fate was widely believed to be sealed in the Headingley Test against New Zealand in May.

After making one in the first innings he batted ponderously in the second, scoring just seven in 45 balls at a time when England were in a position to force the game.

He confesses he was out of sorts but feels his previous efforts had bought him some leeway.

"By my own admission I wasn't in a great place at Headingley. It was a poor Test match, no doubt about it," he said.

"But one, or one-and-a-half, Test matches doesn't really constitute a series or a career.

"There's a lot of players early in a season whose feet go missing. I didn't look too much into it.

"Headingley was a poor Test match and that was it. It was a bit of a shock to hear the news.

"Perhaps I should have had more of a crack and gone down fighting."

Despite his downbeat tone, Compton is not giving up on playing in the Test series.

"I'm certainly not going to lose hope of playing in the Ashes," he said. "It's a dream of mine and something I've worked very hard to achieve.

"I feel ready but it is not my job to select. I feel like I've done enough."

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