IND v ENG: Keaton Jennings All Set To Debut For England At Wankhede

Dec 7, 2016 at 2:42 PM

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IND v ENG: Keaton Jennings All Set To Debut For England At Wankhede

Keaton Jennings, who has been called up for the fourth Test against India in Mumbai, is all set to make his debut in Test cricket on Thursday. The left-handed batsman, in his first press conference, spoke very politely in his South African accent about his father and his interests outside the game of cricket. Jennings lead South Africa U-19s on England tour in 2011 after which in 2012 he started a four-year residency qualification.

Keaton also spoke about how he made up his mind to play for England though he wanted to play for the Proteas initially.

Jennings was quoted, “Yes I did but after working with John Windows up at Durham and the environment at Durham it started leaning that way [playing for England]. It was not one defining moment where I thought this is it. A decision like buying a house is not an exact point where you think ‘that’s me, I’m in’. It was more a process of slowly feeling welcomed, feeling part of the family and part of the furniture and slowly over time your mind gets made up.”

The young all-rounder admits that it was a hard decision to change his mind to play for England. But at the same time, he also feels that he has given his best shot and wants to flourish in the game of cricket. According to the England batsman, UK was the best place to live his dream and he is happy that he could finally make up his mind for playing in England.

The Durham link happened through Albie Morkel who put Jennings in touch with Geoff Cook and things started taking shape thereafter according to Jennings.

Going by the new rules of England, they have a residency qualification period of up to 7 years but Jennings had to commit only 4 years of his life as he had moved to England before the new rules were implemented. However, Jennings’ adoption of a foreign country raises some familiar questions, though England has a long history of foreign players playing for them.

England cricket has helped Jennings become the player he is today. Geoff Cook and Durham has polished the young man and made him a better player than he was when he arrived from South Africa. He is now a talented left-handed opening batsman who is likely to earn first Test cap should he take the field on Thursday at Mumbai. Jennings’ success should be celebrated instead of being criticised for adopting a foreign country and playing for them. The youngster has worked very hard and proved himself to the world as is now on the verge of fulfilling his childhood dream.

Jennings was all praise for the people of the North East as they welcomed him with open arms. Jennings gelled up well with the people in the UK as time progressed and considers himself very lucky that the people there had welcomed him well.

Jennings was quoted, “At the moment, I’m feeling very comfortable and very English, despite my accent.”

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