The Story
South African legend Graeme Smith believes that struggling Keaton Jennings, if picked in the Ashes Tour in Australia later this year, might end up becoming a huge failure. The South African veteran feels that the young left hander might find Australia “scary” considering his uncomfortable outings against South Africa in the ongoing series.
Jennings scored scratchy 48 in the second innings after getting dismissed for a duck in the first innings in the ongoing 3rd Test at The Oval. After witnessing the youngster bat, Smith has advised that England needs to drop Jennings before their Ashes tour this summer.
Unable to cope with pace and bounce
Jenning made a satisfying debut against India late last year but his second outing in the whites has been very dismal and has exposed a couple of critical weakness in his batting style. Ths most visible being lack of ability to play bouncers.
The England opener made 48 on day four after surviving a review, getting dropped once, and lapping up boundaries off edges. Eventually, he was removed by a snorting bouncer from Kagiso Rabada.
“Even though he got 48, there were a lot of edges,” Smith said on Test Match Special. If I was a selector I’d be thinking it was time to make a change with the West Indies and then the Ashes coming up.”
Smith’s worries seem legit considering his experience Down Under. The left handed opener had his hand broken in 2008-09 when facing Mitchell Johnson. The pitches will be fast and bouncy and the fear of watching Jennings being turned into a shivering bunny might come true if he joined the English touring party without adjustments to his technique.
“Should England give another player time to settle in?” Smith asked. “The way that Jennings plays, I think Australia might be quite a scary place for him.
“It’s not easy. These are people’s lives and they’re working hard, but I think South Africa would love Jennings to play in the final Test match.
“If you had to ask them they would say: ‘Please pick him’.”