Chris Waters: Keaton Jennings reaches his Everest to set an opening conundrum

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Another new partner: Keaton Jennings, right, became the 11th opening partner of captain Alastair Cook, left, since the retirment of Andrew Strauss four years ago and went on to a debut century on the first day of the fourth Test against India in Mumbai. (Picture: AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)Another new partner: Keaton Jennings, right, became the 11th opening partner of captain Alastair Cook, left, since the retirment of Andrew Strauss four years ago and went on to a debut century on the first day of the fourth Test against India in Mumbai. (Picture: AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Another new partner: Keaton Jennings, right, became the 11th opening partner of captain Alastair Cook, left, since the retirment of Andrew Strauss four years ago and went on to a debut century on the first day of the fourth Test against India in Mumbai. (Picture: AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

So ran the message on Keaton Jennings’s Wikipedia page yesterday after he scored a hundred on Test debut for England against India in Mumbai.

As Jennings was busy becoming only the 19th man to achieve that feat for England, joining a list that includes two Yorkshiremen in the form of Paul Gibb and current Yorkshire CCC president John Hampshire, so mischief-makers were busy hacking into Jennings’s Wikipedia profile on the World Wide Web.

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No sooner did he raise his hundred with a reverse-sweep to the boundary off Jayant Yadav than his full name was changed on Wikipedia from “Keaton Kent Jennings” to “Keaton Century Jennings”, who “became the first player to score 300 on debut during game against India in December 2016”.

England's batsman Keaton Jennings raises his bat after scoring century on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)England's batsman Keaton Jennings raises his bat after scoring century on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
England's batsman Keaton Jennings raises his bat after scoring century on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

That proved to be wishful thinking, of course, and he was duly caught in the gully by Cheteshwar Pujara off Ravi Ashwin for 112, while the claim that Jennings was “Born 19 June 1892 (age 124)” fooled no-one.

Chief tomfoolery centred on the 24-year-old’s height, officially 6ft 4in according to the somewhat more reliable barometer of The Cricketers’ Who’s Who.

On Wikipedia, however, that height was altered to “bloody tall”, then to “taller than most adult men”, and then to “approximately 24 Hobbits stacked on top of each other”.

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Eventually, it came to rest at “29,000 feet”, which was appropriate for a man who grew in stature with every run to the extent that he must have left the field feeling as tall as Mount Everest.

England's batsman Jonny Bairstow left, bats on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)England's batsman Jonny Bairstow left, bats on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
England's batsman Jonny Bairstow left, bats on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

While Wikipedia boffins worked to block the hackers, who presumably retreated into self-congratulatory chatrooms, English cricket was left to ponder a variant on the time-honoured theme of London buses.

Why, you wait many months for an opening batsman and then two come along at once, with Jennings following in the footsteps of the Lancashire prodigy Haseeb Hameed.

It was only Hameed’s broken finger in the previous Test match that resulted in Jennings’s call-up from the England Lions tour.

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Hameed’s damaged digit might now be considered a serendipitous development; certainly England have unearthed what would appear to be two considerable talents.

England's batsman Keaton Jennings raises his bat after scoring century on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)England's batsman Keaton Jennings raises his bat after scoring century on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
England's batsman Keaton Jennings raises his bat after scoring century on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Of course, they have not so much unearthed Jennings as benefited from his decision to leave his native South Africa to ply his trade in county cricket, a path followed by such as Kevin Pietersen.

Having served the necessary qualification period, Jennings, like Hameed, has simply carried on from where he left off in Division One of the County Championship last summer, when he was the leading run-scorer with 1,548 at an average of 64.5.

Jennings’s highest score was 221 not out against Yorkshire at Chester-le-Street, completed on the day that Britain voted to leave the European Union.

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On the evidence of his display at the Wankhede Stadium, no-one will be voting to leave the left-hander out of an England Test team any time soon.

England's batsman Jonny Bairstow left, bats on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)England's batsman Jonny Bairstow left, bats on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
England's batsman Jonny Bairstow left, bats on the first day of the fourth cricket test match between India and England in Mumbai. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

The only matter to be determined is where Jennings will bat once Hameed returns to the side, as he clearly must.

The likeliest solution is for Hameed to resume as Alastair Cook’s opening partner, with Jennings slotting in at No 3 and Joe Root dropping down to No 4, which is arguably a better position for the Yorkshire batsman.

A top-six of Cook, Hameed, Jennings, Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes could well be in the pipeline, particularly with Moeen Ali continuing to frustrate higher up the order.

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It was Ali’s ill-judged slog-sweep yesterday – resulting in a simple catch for Karun Nair at square-leg off Ashwin – that saw England slip from the cigar-smoking comfort of 230-2 to the chain-smoking concern of 249-5 before Stokes and Jos Buttler lifted them to the middle ground of 288-5 at stumps.

There was no such impetuosity from Jennings, the first England opener to hit a hundred on Test debut since Cook against India at Nagpur 10 years ago.

There was a clear similarity in that Cook had been with the England A team in the West Indies only to be parachuted in due to injuries, and history records that the Essex batsman has not looked back.

Jennings – Cook’s 11th opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss four years ago – shared a stand of 99 with his captain yesterday and looked confident and composed.

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He had the odd bit of fortune along the way (he was dropped on nought by Nair in the gully off Umesh Yadav), but he was economical of movement and stayed very still, while his footwork was deft and invariably decisive.

It is no secret that Yorkshire were one of the counties recently rumoured to be interested in signing Jennings, who has since confirmed his intention to stay with Durham, despite their relegation to the Championship Second Division.

That is probably just as well from a White Rose point of view.

Yorkshire already lose a number of players to international duty as it is, with three on show in the current game – Root, Bairstow and Adil Rashid.

On yesterday’s evidence, which brought the world and Wikipedia to a halt, Jennings would be another to add to a lengthening list.

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