It’s Time To Talk About Keaton Jennings (again)

After Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley failed again in the first innings of the second Test, Rob Thirlwell argues that it’s time to talk seriously about recalling Keaton Jennings. Does he have a point? 

England got off to a great start in the first test of their tour of Sri Lanka. Joe Root’s imperious double hundred placed England in a commanding position and an admirable bowling performance from spinners Dom Bess and Jack Leach placed the result beyond doubt. Or did it? In their pursuit of only 74 for victory, England lost 3 early wickets. The unfortunate run out of Root can be written off as bad luck, however the dismissals of openers Sibley and Crawley pose some more worrying questions.

Over the course of the test the England openers amassed a combined 23 runs. And they failed in the first innings of the second Test too. Both Sibley and Crawley have lacked the crisp foot movement and clarity of thought demonstrated by Root. Sibley, in particular seems to lack a plan against spin. He either prods forward or feels tentatively for the ball. His dismissal in the second innings at Galle came courtesy of Embuldeniya’s arm ball, which England’s opener watched cannon into his off-stump after offering no shot.

Sibley’s inability to pick it seemed surprising. It may have been a lapse of concentration. However, Sibley’s difficulties against spin have not just emerged on this tour. During the West Indies series last summer he failed to deal with Roston Chase’s offies. He seemed content to absorb dot balls. When England were looking to score quickly in the final test at Old Trafford Sibley often attempted to hit Chase straight back over his head. This rarely went to plan as he produced some comical ‘plinks’ that often landed just short of fielders. Chase is a very able spinner, but nothing that should give England batsmen nightmares, especially in English conditions which are so rarely conducive to spin bowling.

Although Crawley had a far more profitable English summer than Sibley, he still looked out of sorts against the spinning ball in Galle. A lack of conviction as he attempted to hit Embuldeniya over mid-off led to his demise in the first innings. This was followed by a tentative push to slip in the second dig. Both openers seemed to lack a clear plan. This was a stark contrast to Jonny Bairstow and Root who employed various forms of the sweep on their way to some handsome scores.

In many ways it seems harsh to be so critical of the youthful opening pair so early on in the winter, yet their technical deficiencies were highlighted by the class of those who followed them, including debutant Dan Lawrence who confidently used his feet to manoeuvre the ball and field from the word go.

Crawley’s and Sibley’s difficulties against spin most likely stem from the lack of exposure to high quality spinners in the County Championship. It’s interesting that Sibley averages above 60 in domestic cricket against spinners. The density of Championship games in April and May often reduce the chances of spinners being selected. Furthermore, the importance of white ball cricket at the moment has led to the production of spinners who are more concerned with bowling faster with a flatter trajectory. Spinners who rely solely on flight and guile are certainly a rarity in the English game.

Many England fans will question the exclusion of Keaton Jennings from the squad. Jennings can certainly count himself as unlucky. He was included in the original squad that travelled to Sri Lanka last March. Although he did not have an outstanding summer it seems that England are looking to the future with the inclusion Lawrence.

Jennings’ record in Asia is beyond doubt. He notched a hundred in India in 2016 and he was pivotal to England’s most recent success in Sri Lanka in 2018. Sides that tour the sub-continent always select bowlers based on the conditions. In years gone by England would always include the likes of Monty Panesar and Samit Patel to bolster their attack and on this tour England have a variety of young spinners in the party, such as Amir Virdi, Matt Parkinson and Mason Crane.

The difference between seam and spin bowlers is evidently clearer than between batsmen who can play spin with ease and those who struggle against it. However, surely a batsmen’s competence against spin should be taken into greater consideration when touring in Asia. At the international level batsmen are expected to play all types of bowling, yet it is only natural that some will thrive in certain conditions.

Jennings is clear proof of this. His difficulties against the swinging ball have certainly hindered his chances of regular selection. Unlike with bowlers, the rotation of batsmen is rarely employed by selectors. Changes will only occur if players experience a dip in form or an injury. Would there be anything so wrong with utilising Jennings as a specialist for the sub-continent? His record is beyond doubt and his selection of shots against spin is far more extensive than either Sibley or Crawley.

Things will only get harder for the English batsmen in the upcoming tour of India. The prospect of facing Ashwin and Jadeja will daunt many English players. If Sibley and Crawley were to continue to struggle in these foreign conditions, it may do lasting damage to their confidence that would be carried into next winter’s Ashes series. Crawley and Sibley carry no baggage of previous defeats in Australia and their ability to accumulate runs will stand England in good stead down under. Could a barren winter in the sub-continent damage England’s hopes of Ashes glory?

Jennings must often question whether a return to test cricket will ever materialise. Runs in the sub-continent have been few and far between for English test openers in recent years. He has proved himself in these conditions time and again, so perhaps he is the key to a series victory in India? After all, the importance of a good start at the top of the order cannot be overstated.

Rob Thirlwell

12 comments

  • If Jennings had been discarded after a short try out a recall might have been worth debating, but his persistent failure means his confidence is vulnerable. I agree Sibley and Crawley look out of sorts against spin, but with little chance to practice in these unique conditions it depends on whether you pick a side to play a side or go for continuity , however neither opener will become better players of spin for being dropped. I would be more worried about them if they were getting in and then getting out, the real sin for top order batsmen at test level. Playing pace or spin is always something of a lottery early on until you come to terms with the conditions. Mr Ed seems to favour mixing things up, so no one really knows where they stand in terms of selection. Form doesn’t necessarily play a part any more.
    As far as I am concerned you pick a squad for an entire series, so the players are given a chance to gel as a team. You do this normally away from home anyway.

  • Jennings was discarded after a long run of failures, including a series against India in which he was a total disaster (at home in 2018). He should be nowhere in contention for a recall. As I said in my own post today: https://aspi.blog/2021/01/23/sri-lanka-in-control-in-galle/ he has a Brearleyesque batting average without the captaincy skills to compensate. I agree that Embuldeniya has been making both Sibley and Crawley look fools, and if they are sensible India will be thinking about having their own left arm spinner Axar Patel (Jadeja is injured) share the new ball with Bumrah, but to recall a proven failure on the grounds that the current incumbents are struggling would be quite simply stupid.

  • The problem is with 4 Day cricket in England played primarily inApril,May and September quality spinners ave little scope to develop. This coming season there are just 2 county matches between June-August, when pitches are going to hopefully be harder and offer the spinners something. Because of this we haven’t had a quality Test spinner since Swann. We do have a number of slow bowlers two of which are playing in this series. Even in a pudding pitch neither of them looks remotely threatening to me, and yet SL dispatched both openers for nothing twice. I would refrain from blaming Sibley and Crawley too much because they have not faced really good spin bowlers anywhere near enough for reasons above. Conversley Root and Bairstow have and know, well certainly in Roots’s case how to play them.
    In my view of he wants to play for England, Harmer is the best in the county game by a mile. Of the others young Amir Virdi gives the ball a real rip and is head and shoulders above Leech and Bess (who is a batsman who bowls a bit). Even Rashid would be better than the current bunch.

  • After quite a long run in the side, Jennings was ‘rested’ and sent back to his then County to work on his technique. (I remember James Morgan shrewdly pointing out that he found it easier to move counties than he did to move his feet!).
    Unlike others who had done the same thing (e.g. Amiss and Gooch) when he was brought back into the Test side, all of the old problems were still there. Even so, he was given an embarrassingly long run in the side when it was clear he wasn’t the best option available.
    I really do think that anyone who thinks Jennings is the solution doesn’t really understand the nature of the problem. It is important – but admittedly not always possible – to go into a Test series – especially an away one in Australia – with an established upper order. Jennings is not going to be part of that so why bother even considering him now?

      • Yes, you did. I’ve often quoted it since – always acknowledging the source ! As you say, one of your better ones !

  • Although you’ve said it twice, Jennings’s record in Asia in absolutely not beyond doubt, as I posted in the last thread. You’re talking about someone who gets out for less than 2 as often as he reaches 30.

    He also hasn’t proved himself “time and again”. The sample size is too small to be proclaiming him an Asia specialist–he’s only played five tests there, so essentially that judgement is based on a grand total of two innings, in one of which he was dropped before he’d scored.

    • The fact of the matter is had he not been dropped on 0 before he went on to get his maiden century (for which, all credit) he might well have vanished without trace.

      • He scored a century in his first innings when the opposition hadn’t had a look at him and during what was generally a very high scoring series. His other innings of note was a big red inker when a poor SL were being ground into the dust (the sort of innings that when David Warner plays it it doesn’t count).

        It seems fairly obvious that Sibley looks unconvincing and should be replaced by Burns; Crawley is inexperienced and should be given more time to work it out. If that fails, one of Bairstow, Pope or Lawrence made need to open because it looks impossible to fit them all into the middle order.

        The Jennings’ story is beloved by the media because it makes Ed Smith look frightfully clever and makes management once again the center of the story. There’s nothing innovative about it. For the first India tour I can remember in 1976/77 England dropped pace specialists Steele and Willey and recalled spin specialists Amiss and Fletcher.

  • There’s an interesting piece by Nasser on YouTube : search for. ‘ How should England’s openers play spin?’

  • Happy to be wrong about Sibley – I guess his method is such that it’s always not going to look good when it fails. Twice now he’s shown he can come through initially unimpressive spells so he deserves some time if it happens again in the future and he’s clearly a player who thinks about his game and can learn from difficulties. He’s a player who forced his way in through sheer weight of CC runs when England were very reluctant to attach any importance to that and looked instead at how much Andy Flower liked their ‘character’.

    It does still need to be pointed out that he survived three ‘Umpire’s Calls’ on DRS and that SL are a terribly weak team (Perera’s a 38 year old who hasn’t done anything for 3 years and Mendis a debutant leaving Embuldeniya to be effectively the lone spinner – and valiantly as he tried he needs to concede a lot of runs to take his wickets. A spinner who drives the ball into the wicket – like a Jadeja or Panesar at his best – would have been a real handful on that pitch but SL didn’t have one, Embuldeniya being the more flighty type of SLA).

    India have some interesting selection dilemmas when England tour (starting with the captaincy). Do they stick with the players who won in Australia or go back to the players who’ve been so dominant at home? Given their strength in depth and how weak most of the others are perhaps the Ranji Trophey should become the World Test Championship? Who could have foreseen the Big Three carve-up would produce this (except everyone who didn’t work in the MSM)?

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