Keaton Jennings: Test tone has triggered a wave of emotions | sport

Keaton Jennings is an engaging, fresh-faced candor that gives an idea of ​​why important men plan to keep him in the locker room when the race has stubbornly refused to come. He was a limit choice for this tour and not absolutely certain to play in this match. But with England's stick finished here, he scored 192 points and was fired only once. Faith has been repaid.

Jennings spoke of a wave of feelings as he picked up the single that led him to his second-century test – "a mixture of exalted joy, relief and happiness" – which contrasted with some of the emotions of the last 18 months in which he had struggled. deliver as an opening drummer in England. "It happened to me to wake up in the middle of the night, to panic and to stress myself," he admitted. "And around coffee at 6:30, I could then find myself reading about my technical shortcomings. I would not be human if I said that these things do not affect me. "

His performance at Galle gets him out of the spotlight; the pressure may not seem so intense now. For the first time in a while, he can be badured of a spot in the next test match in England. But his experiences over the past two years, when he saw Alastair Cook, no less, worried about his form, not to mention himself, add a note of caution. "It would be stupid to say that in the next year or so, I will not be under this pressure."

In his test career, he excelled against the spin and Jennings, a native of Johannesburg, who is hardly a haven for bowling, explained how this part of his game had improved. "I went with the Lions to Dubai in 2016 and Andy Flower and Graham Thorpe helped me develop my method."

He inverts much more than most drummers, which is breathless. "This move is one of my strengths. It sometimes gets me out of prison, "he said. "On the first day, when the wicket was stickier, I decided that inverted scanning was often less risky than playing with a direct bat."

In this department, at least, he eclipses his powerful predecessor, Cook, whom he has studied so ardently over the past two years. Jennings' turnaround is much better than Cook's. And at Galle, he showed the kind of resolution and concentration that fortified Cook's career, a comparison that will make this smiling cricketer very happy.