Jennings may keep place for Windies showdown
ENGLAND could stick with struggling opener Keaton Jennings for the three Tests against West Indies, despite the 25-year-old averaging only 15.87 against South Africa. Pundits have queued up to analyse Jennings’s technical difficulties during a series which brought him a top score of 48 and six scores under 20. But senior figures in the England set-up are believed to be unconvinced by Surrey opener Mark Stoneman, and are reluctant to recall Lancashire’s Haseeb Hameed too early in case he fails to cash in against West Indies and damages his chances of going to Australia this winter. Alex Hales hit a run-a-ball 218 for Nottinghamshire against Derbyshire yesterday, but he has already stated his preference for a place in the middle order should the selectors go back to him. That means Jennings could be handed a stay of execution, beginning with the first day-night Test in this country, at Edgbaston a week on Thursday. And with Gary Ballance still recovering from a broken finger, Dawid Malan could get another chance too after scoring only 35 runs in four innings against South Africa. Meanwhile, England will invite three up-and-coming spinners — Hampshire leg-spinner Mason Crane and Somerset pair Jack Leach and Dom Bess — to join them in training ahead of the first Test against West Indies. The management team are keen to play Crane in at least one of the three matches before potentially taking him to Australia. Bess, 20, is currently taking part in just his seventh first-class match.