Joe Root comes in support of Keaton Jennings after the later got dropped for the West Indies tour

Keaton Jennings had a dismal series against the South Africans though England reigned supreme on home soil. In a series which England won 3 games to 1, Jennings scored only 127 runs over 8 innings from all the 4 Test matches. Quite expectedly, he has been dropped from the Three Lion’s squad for their upcoming West Indies battle.

Surrey cricketer Mark Stoneman has been called up as a replacement. Stoneman, who is 30 years of age is all set to become Alastair Cook’s 12th opening partner since Andrew Strauss decided to hang up his boots in 2012. He is also the oldest specialist batsman England have chosen in the last decade. However, after being dropped from the side, Jennings got the backing of England skipper Joe Root.

What Joe Root had to say:

Speaking about the matter Joe Root said that Jennings now has only one thing to do. And that is, go back to the County Championships and prove his mettle again. He backed Jennings to score plenty of runs and make his way back into the team. Joe Root believes the Keaton is a tremendous player and definitely has the capability to do so.

“It’s pretty obvious what Keaton needs to do; go get a volume of runs, go back to the County Championship and show everyone what a great player he is. I have no doubt that he will be able to do that. He’s a great character and was a big part of our dressing room to beat South Africa,” said Root.

Jennings announced himself in style in the Test format when he made his debut against India last year. He played a brilliant 112 run inning in his debut and followed it up with a half century in the second. But Jenning’s form took a huge blow in the recently concluded South Africa series as his average was just over 15 in the four Test matches.