Player Profile
Keaton Jennings was appointed Lancashire’s captain ahead of the 2023 season, the opening batter taking over from Dane Vilas.
England’s fringe opener Jennings headed into his new role following a summer from the gods in 2022.
In all cricket, including a pre-season friendly, he scored just over 2,000 runs, while his haul of 1,233 Championship runs was the most in Division One - and he missed the first three games through injury.
In a draw against Somerset at Southport in July, he racked up a career best 318 - the fourth highest total in Lancashire’s history.
He ended the season as captain of the team as they reached the One-Day Cup final, only to be beaten by Kent at Trent Bridge. It was a precursor to his permanent appointment.
“It’s something I’m massively proud of,” he said of his appointment. “It’s one of those things when you grow up in the cricket world and you watch Test Matches at Emirates Old Trafford, and Lancashire is the epitome of that.”
It was no surprise at all when Jennings was named as Lancashire’s 2022 player of the year.
Unfortunately, 2023 didn’t live up to those heights. It wasn’t a bad season by any stretch. In fact, Jennings’ form remained impressive - 1,163 runs from 19 matches across all competitions with three hundreds, a best of 189 not out and an average of 55.38.
It was just more frustrating than anything else. Lancashire were unable to secure any silverware, and he spent two months out of side from late April to late June with a torn hamstring.
That hamstring injury actually came during his season’s best 189 not out - in the first innings of the late April Championship draw against Somerset at Taunton. The left-hander was forced to retire hurt in that innings, and he missed the whole of the Vitality Blast as a result.
Jennings was born in Johannesburg and is the son of Ray, a former first-class batter and ex-South Africa coach.
His mother was born in Sunderland, giving Keaton British Citizenship, and he played Academy and second-team cricket with Durham in 2011 before making his first-class debut for Gauteng that December. He signed permanently with Durham shortly afterwards.
He is also a former South Africa Under 19s captain, though he has played 17 senior Test Matches for England to date, scoring two centuries.
His first - 112 - came on debut against India in Mumbai in December 2016. Unfortunately the match ended in defeat. But he bettered that two years later with 146 not out in the second innings of a victory against Sri Lanka at Galle.
Jennings has been unable to hold down his Test place, though his 2022 form earned him a touring place for Pakistan at the end of the year. He didn’t play, though did get a bird’s eye view as his close mate Ben Stokes captained England to a 3-0 victory.
He toured India with the England Lions in early 2024, scoring 154 and 64 in one particularly draw against the hosts’ A team at Ahmedabad in January.
Jennings signed for Lancashire ahead of the 2018 summer.
He was part of Durham’s 2013 Championship-winning side, but it was 2016 where Jennings really made his mark on first-class cricket, scoring seven centuries and totalling over 1,500 Championship runs with a double century against Yorkshire.
Jennings has a wonderful record against Yorkshire. But more of that in a moment.
The 2016 summer was also a breakthrough year in T20 cricket as he led Durham to their first-ever appearance in the Blast final.
Jennings was an ever-present part of Lancashire’s Championship promotion-winning campaign in 2019, returning 588 runs in 14 matches, including six fifties.
He has 35 senior career centuries; 27 in first-class cricket, seven in List A and one in T20s.
That T20 century came for the Lightning against Durham at the Riverside in 2020, a superb 108 opening the batting.
He is more class than clobber with the bat, but he has shown time and time again just how versatile he can be. In the Blast semi-final against Yorkshire at Edgbaston in July 2022, he crashed a superb 75 off 51 balls as the Red Rose reeled in a target of 205 to win by six wickets with eight balls to spare.
It enhanced a remarkable career record against Yorkshire.
In 2021 and 2022, he scored four consecutive Championship centuries against them, becoming the first batter to achieve that feat for either side in Roses cricket.
In hitting 238 in the draw at Headingley in early 2022, he fell narrowly short of the highest individual score for either side in Roses cricket - Darren Lehmann's 252 at Headingley in 2001.
In recent years, Jennings has combined his cricket with studies and has completed two University degrees - the latest being a Masters in Business Administration completed in 2022.
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