Keaton Jennings day started off with panic as he thought he might have missed the team bus to the ground but it ended on a sweet note, with a serene sense of achievement as he got to a hundred in his maiden Test innings playing for England.
The morning nervousness was understandable as just 72 hours back he was in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) playing for the Lions and now he was suddenly thrown into face the No.1 side in the world with top class bowlers.
“I woke up at five o’clock this morning thinking I had missed the team bus so I jumped out of bed panicking over where everything is, I settled myself down and then saw the time,” Jennings said.
Exactly after nine hours, Jennings got down on his knees to play a reverse-sweep to get to his maiden ton on debut since Jonathan Trott got it in 2009. He said it felt like he was still dreaming.
“It has been a dream come true and just surreal that it has come on debut,” said Jennings. “Waking up, if someone had said to me you would get a Test match hundred I would have bitten their arm off. It has been an incredible day, an incredible 72 hours.”
It wasn’t easy for Jennings initially. He was dropped at zero and then survived an LBW review while batting on 10. But these were just the chances he needed.
The pitch turned earlier than any others in the series so far but Jennings was confident as used his feet wisely and played the tweakers with soft hands. He swept well and drove confidently and eventually got to the three-figure mark which looked like quite a distant dream at the start.
“When the ball looped up to gully my heart was in my mouth and I thought ‘oh no you have got nought in your first innings’ but thankfully it went to ground and I went from there,” he said. “At the time I thought the LBW was close. Again, I was really thankful the decision went in my favour instead of the other way round where you get an umpire’s call pulled against you and you end up out and in a position at the end of the day when you are not really happy.”
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Jennings finally got out after scoring 112 off 219 deliveries but his innings never lacked pace. He kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and the occasional hits to the ropes which were quite pleasing to the eye. He became the fourth ever England cricketer to score a ton and he celebrated it with a double fist pump, not sure how to enjoy the moment.
“I looked up and saw 96 on the board, I hit it and went for four but the ground went a bit dull so I thought I had mucked up a little bit and got it (the score) wrong. I looked up again at the board and realized I had gone to a hundred. In that moment you don’t want to jump around and kind of go ballistic but the emotion that went over me, the elation, the pride and satisfaction to go to a Test hundred was really incredible and really special.”
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