Sorry, but Jennings can’t go on tour now
Opener is good team man but has run out of chances
It’s already been pointed out that we won’t know the true value of Alastair Cook until he’s finally gone, and that felt especially true as Keaton Jennings got himself into a tangle against Mohammed shami.
Cook is one of England’s greatest players of spin, and it would be lovely to have him in sri Lanka this winter. But England have to plan ahead for life without him. the worrying thing is, they may now be planning for two new openers.
If you’d asked me before this game whether I’d have taken Jennings to sri Lanka, I’ve have said yes. But his two dismissals here at the Oval have — reluctantly — changed my mind.
He’s supposed to be a good player of spin, which is why England are keen to take him on tour, but to get out caught at leg slip, more or less off the face of the bat, was a dozy piece of cricket.
the bowler Ravindra Jadeja often gets players out that way with his left-arm spin, so it was careless of Jennings — almost as if he’d forgotten the man was there.
then, in the second innings, he shouldered arms to shami and was bowled top of middle stump. shami was going so wide of the stumps he was almost bowling
no-balls on the return crease, so Jennings must have known the ball would be coming back into him.
shami is also a skiddy bowler. Whereas you can leave a taller bowler like Ishant sharma on length, shami constantly forces the batsman to play. It was another poor decision.
Jennings has also dropped a few catches this summer, including an easy one at silly point that would have polished India off for 260.
I prefer to give a guy one game too many rather than one too few, and it’s certainly true that life for left-handed openers has been tough in England over the past couple of years. But I still wouldn’t take him to sri Lanka.
there are only so many opportunities being a good guy and a good team man — and supposedly a good player of spin — will buy you.
so who goes instead? the sad truth is the cupboard is a bit bare. But it’s a results business, so I’d take surrey’s Rory Burns, who has consistently been in the runs over the past few years. He’s also a left-hander, which should help deal with the threat
of sri Lanka’s slow left-armer Rangana Herath.
In fact, being a good player of spin will be the key factor out there. Forget trying to combat swing, which has been the problem this summer. sri Lanka will be a trial of spin from the start, so you pick your best six or seven batsmen against the turning ball. And it doesn’t matter
whether they’re an opener or not. For those reasons, I’d take James Vince.
Yes, he’s been vulnerable outside off stump so far in his career, but sri Lanka will pose different questions, and I still believe there’s a test batsman in Vince waiting to reveal himself. that earns him the edge over Joe Denly.
After Burns and Vince — and assuming Joe Root still doesn’t want to bat at No 3 — I’d go with Moeen Ali, despite getting bowled by Jadeja yesterday. In
fairness, it was a clever piece of bowling, enticing him into the drive with good loop. And Ali has shown he’s willing to get his head down.
I’m not convinced he has a career in that position in England, but it may work overseas. And while this new-look top three has a slight sense of guesswork about it, that is the position England find themselves in. Like I said, they really are going to miss Alastair Cook.