England’s re-called batsman Keaton Jennings insists he returns as a ‘different person’

Keaton Jennings is not just another test cricketer. He has two degrees and as many Test match centuries, but the focus in the coming weeks will be on adding to the latter in Pakistan.

After a summer in which Jennings finished top scorer in Division One of the County Championship, with 1,233 runs for Lancashire and five centuries at an average of 72.52, the 30-year-old was recalled for England’s three-match Test series that followed week begins. week.

“A few days before it was announced, I was doing the dishes and missed a call from a +64 number. So the first thing I did was go on Google and find out what country it was.

It was New Zealand and as I suspected, it was Baz McCullum. He told me I was going, what he wanted, that I had the support and that was that,” Jennings tells Sportsmail.

Born in Johannesburg, the southpaw made a century on his Test debut in India in 2016, but all in all he endured an agonizing time opening the batting, averaging just over 25 from his 17 Tests.

An average of 16.65 against pace did him no good. He was dropped from the set-up on two separate occasions and after being recalled in 2020, his hopes were shattered after England’s tour to Sri Lanka was canceled due to the pandemic.

So what has changed since then? There’s been a shift in technique from a previously stiff method to one where Jennings has lowered the position of his hands – after seeing an Instagram clip of Matthew Hayden – increasing his hand speed and flowing more fluidly.

But perhaps more importantly, it’s a mental change from someone suffering from the effects of the game to enjoying the game.

“I’ve learned how to accept it when you’re on the other side. When I last played my grades weren’t good enough and it took me a while to come to terms with.

Now I’ve made peace with the fact that I don’t necessarily have to play for England again to prove someone a point,” Jennings says as he heads to Heathrow Airport for the flight from England to the UAE. England will spend a week in Abu Dhabi before heading to Pakistan.

Jennings adds: ‘I’ve been content over the last few years, in a position of happiness and a position where I’m proud of myself and just enjoying playing cricket again. I now know what to expect.

It’s the smallest things like taking my coffee maker with me that I feel comfortable with. I’m a different person than I was three or four years ago.’

In the summer of 2018, Jennings averaged 19 and failed to reach 50 over six Tests, but England stuck with him for the Sri Lanka tour. He went on to hit 146* in the first test at Galle.

In former England selector Ed Smith’s book “Making Decisions,” he recalls Jennings that night: “successfully, exactly the same poised and consistent human being – fortunately, certainly, but still largely the same man who had had to struggle through a tough run against India a few weeks earlier.’

That trait could prove crucial in what will be the biggest test of the Stokes and McCullum era yet on Pakistan’s grueling roads. For all the changes between the Jennings then and the Jennings now, that’s something England hopes has remained a constant.

After all, along with Sam Curran and Adil Rashid, he was part of a trio that had the best win-loss percentages of any England player over a three-year span between 2017 and 2019. During Smith’s time as selector, Jennings played 11 Tests. England won nine. Over its 17 Tests, England has a 70 per cent winning percentage.

“I’ve got that Ed Smith book in my bag for this trip,” Jennings reveals. “There’s also Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal, Limitless by Jim Kwik and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho,” he adds.

A common theme throughout the books is the idea of ​​transforming the mind and exploring the way we work and learn.

It comes as no surprise that former Sandhurst officer Gemma Morgan named Jennings as someone she was very impressed with when England took leadership training in 2017 and he was earmarked as a candidate to become a future Test captain.

With England tied to their hotels for security reasons and the grounds in Pakistan and Jennings off Twitter, he’s got plenty of time to do some extra reading.

“The second time Baz put the phone down, I held my finger on the app and hit delete. Whether I score none or a hundred, I don’t want to put myself in the line of fire,” says Jennings.

“Jonathan Trott once told us that by having Twitter, the world had your phone number. You wouldn’t walk down the street and give everyone your number.’

For Jennings, this opportunity feels like a new debut, but one thing is certain. Whether it succeeds or not in Rawalpindi, Multan or Karachi, there is a degree of stability in his approach that is hard to admire.

“I’ve found that when you try to force something that you have no control over, you think too much ahead and end up in this dangerous place, especially as a batter.

“You get a good ball or you play a bad shot and that’s all you can think about. Look, I’m incredibly proud to be back. And if it happens to me, that’s cool. If not, that’s cool too,” says Jennings.

Jennings’ graduation after completing his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) is scheduled for the day before the third test in Karachi

‘I’ve contacted the university (of Manchester) and they can’t send the dress so I’m just looking online in Karachi. In sports there is a stigma that players are not smart.

“Those pictures when you see people graduating with gowns on, there’s a part of me that wants that picture,” Jennings admits.

Surely an England Test shirt over a graduation dress?

“100 percent, I’d much rather put on the Three Lions.”