Keaton Jennings named England Lions' captain for Sri Lanka tour

The England cricket team certainly has one eye on the captaincy and leadership of their upcoming seasons after 20-year old Keaton Jennings was named as the skipper for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka for the England Lions. This certainly comes as an impressive moving towards the right direction in the grand scheme of things. In spite of the fact that it is not confirmed, the leadership of England is something that England is looking to build in the long term.

‘Nothing has been confirmed on that,’ Jennings said. ‘There will be conversations we need to have at some stage. I just haven’t spent enough time in the north-east to sit down with Jon Lewis and discuss the vision for the club and the direction it wants to take in the next year or two.’

Jennings had an impressive debut for England when he was roped into the England side while in Dubai. This also ensured that he smashed a century on debut before he began a string of low scored succeeding the ton. However, this ensured that he had indeed cemented his place in the side. ‘It’s my first proper taste of it within any professional environment for any sort of period of time.

Jennings also spoke about situations that he was thrust into during the arduous Indian tour. ‘But as Joe Root said recently it’s one of those things you get thrown into. You find out how to do it and what makes you tick within the role as you go along. Hopefully, the guys respond well to it.’

‘I was put into some tough situations, not least public speaking and there was a lot of dealing with adults. I would be amongst boardroom people, sat on AGMs, hearing certain things you wouldn’t necessarily want to hear about as a 17 or 18-year-old. But I must admit it was a really enjoyable year,’ he recalled.

He also added a word on Alastair Cook, the man whom he opened with towards the end of the Test series. ‘To look at a guy who has achieved so much but still gave me so much is something to take note of,’ he said. ‘He was phenomenal. In those two and a half weeks he made a real impact on me and the way I viewed him as a person. I hadn’t met him before. You see people in the media and think how they will be, and he was 10 times better than that.’

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