ENG vs PAK 2018: Keaton Jennings picked over Mark Stoneman for the Headingley Test

Jennings has been going through a good phase in the county championship.

Keaton Jennings. (AFP)

Keaton Jennings, the left-handed English opener, has been selected to play the second Test match of the ongoing two-Test series against Pakistan after his great form in county championship leading up to the match.

Jennings has played for England before having scored a magnificent hundred on a turning pitch at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai during England's tour Test tour of India. He got dropped after that though because of a big dip in form. He then changed county from Durham to Lancashire, which allowed him to regain his touch.

Jennings has been preferred over Mark Stonemen, who has been going through a very bad phase at the international stage ever since he made his debut. Stoneman has played 11 Tests across four series and has only made five half-centuries, none of them has gone beyond 60. His transition to Test Cricket from the first-class game is perhaps reflective of the issues in county cricket.

The England Cricket Board(ECB) National selector Ed Smith, was quoted saying about the change in the squad for the all-important game that, "Keaton Jennings showed a strong temperament in scoring a hundred on his Test match debut against India in December 2016, Keaton has found good form in county cricket this season, including three centuries in his last seven innings"

"Mark Stoneman misses out at Headingley. Mark has experienced a disappointing start to the 2018 season and had a difficult Test match at Lord's."

The squad otherwise remains unchanged. The second Test for England against the rampaging Pakistan starts on June 1.

Squad :

Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (capt), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Dom Bess, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Chris Woakes

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 28 May, 2018

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