Nick Compton, who averages close to 32 in Test matches and scored back-to-back centuries for England in New Zealand in March, has taken an awful lot of flak this week.
The Somerset man, who scored 1,494 first-class runs last summer at an average of 99.60, has struggled since his consecutive tons in New Zealand in the spring, averaging nine from six Test innings.
In the most recent series victory over New Zealand, while Compton and Alastair Cook's opening partnership averaged 40.50, Compton contributed an average of only 9.75, prompting many to question whether he deserves a place in the team for the first Ashes Test.
England team director Andy Flower has told Compton to go away and do again what he did to earn an England call-up in the first place – score runs for Somerset. He is due to return to county action when Somerset host Glamorgan in the YB40 tomorrow, before resuming LV= County Championship duty against Durham next Thursday.
No one will know better than Compton that his form for England since scoring 117 in Dunedin and 100 in Wellington has not been good enough for a Test opener – but, at the same time, he will continue to believe that he is good enough to fulfil the role.
Michael Vaughan, who once captained England and whose job now is to offer opinions on the game, wrote this week that he does not believe Compton is good enough for England.
"It is harsh," Vaughan wrote in the Telegraph. "But I just do not believe Compton is among the best six batsmen in England. He will always struggle against high-quality seam bowling outside off stump because of basic technical flaws in his batting."
Vaughan also questioned Compton's mental approach, suggesting he is "too uptight"; yet Compton's mental approach was hailed by his Somerset team-mates as being the key reason behind the weight of runs he scored last summer.
The campaign for Joe Root to be promoted up the order to open for England, with Kevin Pietersen – when fit – coming back in to the middle order, has gone beyond simply having momentum: it is now a runaway juggernaut heading down a steep hill without brakes. Compton, who has been unable to build on his 2012 form, is the inevitable scapegoat.
But this column is not about debating whether Compton or Root should open the batting for England – that argument is everywhere else right now.
Instead, I want to acknowledge the unfortunate way in which the 'very good' in sport often end up being pilloried because they are not 'excellent', while those who are simply 'good' can spend their entire careers being lauded.
Compton looks as if he has fallen into this category. At 29, he has spent years working his way to the top – and deservedly got there after his remarkable 2012 season. Yet, now he is exposed to the highest level of his sport, and has not quite yet replicated his county form, he is being criticised from all sides.
It begs the question: is it better to be viewed as one of the best English batsmen to never play for England – or to play for England and hear it levelled at you that you are not good enough to be there?
Players such as Yorkshire's Andrew Gale and James Hildreth of Somerset – to pick two batsmen who were involved in the match I watched at Taunton this week – are and probably will always be praised as being 'good' cricketers: sometimes 'very good', occasionally 'excellent'. But they are now at stages of their respective careers where they will probably never have to step up to England level and risk compromising their reputations as Compton has.
Initially rewarded for being 'very good', rather than merely 'good', Compton is now being questioned because he is not proving he has what it takes to be considered 'excellent'.
The county cricket scene is littered with many examples of players who go their entire careers being discussed as possible England selections, yet never have to prove their worth in the toughest arena. The additional focus on the elite players in the most popular sports these days means they are placed under great scrutiny the minute they represent their country.
But, much in the way the 'one-cap wonders' in various sports can look at those who do not grace the international stage and say 'At least I won a cap', surely Compton's achievement in reaching Test level – and then scoring two hundreds on only his second England tour – is greater than those who produce the goods at county level but never make the step up.
Yet certain players – Mark Ramprakash to name one example – seem to damage their reputations by being unable to consistently make the transition from 'very good' to 'excellent'.
Whether or not Compton lines up against Australia at Trent Bridge on July 10, hopefully his time in the England side does not diminish the reputation he has built as a batsman in the county game – particularly as he was in such impressive form throughout 2012.
Yet, sometimes, it seems, if you cannot be 'excellent', it is better to simply be 'good' rather than 'very good'.
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