Amazing to bat with highest century maker for England: Compton

Kolkata: England opener Nick Compton on Thursday described the feeling of opening the batting with Alastair Cook as an "amazing one" and said that skipper helps him to "chill out" there in the middle.

"Standing up there today and looking at the board and the stats that Cook is the youngest to put 7000 runs. It was quite an amazing moment! I was batting with this guy, the all-time leading century-maker for England," Compton couldn`t stop praising his opening partner. Compton says that Cook has a very clear head and knows what exactly he`s doing. "I would say he`s very clear. He seems to know exactly what he`s doing and what he wants to do. For me, it`s easy to chill out there at the other end. It becomes a big difference when you have a player of Cook`s calibre." The grandson of legendary Dennis Compton complimented Cook for his fantastic temperament. "Being very unflappable is probably a good way to describe him (Cook). He`s tough. I`ve really enjoyed the time I spent out there," Compton said. "He`s quite an easy guy to get used to. He keeps things very simple. It`s just a good way to get to know someone by getting there in the middle. You can`t be closer to someone really in the heat of the battle. I really enjoyed that." Compton says that Cook is only 27 and his achievements speaks for him. "He`s still young. A lot of players get there at my age probably at 28-29 but he`s still very young at 27. It speaks volumes about him." The Somerset batsman compared Cook with burly former opener Marcus Trescothick. "To bat with him in someways is similar to batting with (Marcus) Trescothick at Somerset. Clearly, they are different players but how clinical they are. They make very few mistakes on each delivery. Every ball is played in a similar fashion, he always sees the ball, when it`s released." Compton feels that Cook`s ability judge a delivery is exceptional. "He always knows what`s he`s going to do. He has forward defence, the sweep shot, he seems to do that time and time again. That`s the mark of a serious player. He does the simple things for a long period of time. He`s been very very clear batting at the other end." Compton scored his maiden half-century from three Test in a 165-run opening partnership with Cook. "He`s very clear in his gameplan and confidence as well. It does give the other players confidence. He`s so solid. You know he`s not going to give his wicket way easily. If we can stay with him, you`re doing job." Cook hit a six off Ravichandran Ashwin and Compton said he has all the shots in his armoury. "The six was originally not a mark of his game but he has probably taken his game to another level with the array of shots." Compton said that as a team England were very satisfied with the second day's outcome as there were couple of good partnerships. "As a team, we are very satisfied. We spoke about developing partnerships and that's something we managed to do very well. The 160 and 50 odd partnerships that we put was a good way to grind them down." Although he couldn't convert his 50 into a big score, Compton is happy that England are in line to post a mammoth total. "It's important to stick to your own Gameplan. I wanted to get used to the conditions and make most of the opportunities. Although I have again missed out on a big score, I am happy to get a half century. I am trying to take my score away from the equation. I am looking at team's score." "Cook clearly has been the dominant partner. It's still a positive thing for me to see that it's none down after a substantial score and looking at the bowlers being grounded down. It brings a lot of confidence." Asked to compare Saeed Ajmal and Indian spinners, the Somerset player said,"They are different bowlers. One was batting in England, this is India. Those are different conditions. It's Test cricket. I'm trying to play each delivery. To compare them will be very hard. One is county and it's Test cricket." He was all praise for 'spin twins' Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann for showing "enormous accuracy and concentration in pinning down great players like Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar." Compton got a raw deal from umpire Rod Tucker as his leg before looked a debatable one but he seemed to have taken it on his stride. "It's one of those things. Very difficult decision. But that's the way it is." PTI