Keaton Jennings on England's 77 all out and the desire to hit back in Antigua

In his latest Sky Sports column, Keaton Jennings discusses England's defeat in Bridgetown and the determination within the squad to level the Test series in Antigua…

To be completely honest, I don't read a lot of the press. I think you can get wrapped up in a world of opinions where everybody has their say. They are sat 150 metres away and they're having their say on an intense, high-pressure environment.

I know in my heart that I've given my best shot. I prepare well, I train well, I try my nuts off and at times it just doesn't work out. As a sportsman I think you've got to hold your hands up at times and say that that's OK, albeit it's not what you want.


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But I know that I haven't left any stone unturned and every time I pull on an England shirt I give it my best, as does everyone else. Nobody within the 15 guys that are here pulls on a shirt in the morning and says, "I'm going to have a really poor day and mess things up".

Unfortunately, sport just works like that and it kicks you in the teeth sometimes. But that is the honour of pulling on an England shirt and being able to wake up, see yourself on the news but be able to turn it around and still have that mental toughness and confidence in the group to know that you are on the right path.

The mood among the squad is very similar to going into a lot of the Test matches; the fact that we've been beaten isn't the end of the world as a lot of the news articles might have been suggesting!

When you look at the last 10 Tests, we've won eight and only lost two of them so when you look over a period of time, the guys as a group of players have really stuck together and we've done some really good things.

England were bowled out for 77 in their first innings in Bridgetown
The fact we lost last week was tough, we did put in a poor performance but that is part of sport at times and you need to take those highs with the lows and know that at times you'll have a reality check and it gives you an opportunity to reassess things slightly and go again.

It's a combination of things, we can't be too hard on ourselves, the guys had a really good practice day yesterday - Stokesy and Woody were taking the mickey out of me, saying my big white head could be used as a sightscreen, but it's all for a good cause: the money I raised from shaving my head is all going to the MacMillan Cancer Support.

Anyway, hopefully we can produce a result in Antigua that puts us 1-1 leading into St Lucia.

I wouldn't say the scrutiny or opinion makes you try harder because I like to think that as a group of players we've put in a lot of work over the last 18 months and really got ourselves into a good position. The lads are determined, they were hurt by last week, but they are as determined as they have been to correct it.

At times batting is very individual, so Stokesy's way is going to be very different to my way or Rooty's way. It's about finding your way that works, maybe putting pressure on the bowlers is going to give you your best results as opposed to ducking and diving to try and get through a period of time.


Keaton Jennings says England are determined to hit back in Antigua
Maybe in the first innings we weren't sharp enough to the conditions and the situation that played out in front of us, which can happen, and we've been on the delivering end of those sort of scenarios in the past 18 months as well.

We need to take responsibility, take ownership of that and not only turn it around and put it right this week, all those cliched things, but find out why and then go about a process that we have done in the last year and a half, winning those sessions, which in turn leads to winning days and winning Test matches.

That 77 all out was a tough couple of hours, especially for guys like Jimmy and Stokesy. They bowled over 100 overs between them in the match so as a batting group and as a team you feel like you've let your mates down at times when you almost want to look after them after all the effort they have put in and give them that time to recover.

Then when you're chasing such a big total, it's very different for different people. A lot of guys feel like if they shut up shop and feel like they have to bat for two days then they get very negative and they don't move as well so potentially will just get out.

It's knowing your own tempo and your own rhythm and then trying to match that within the game. For me personally, I was trying to bat a long period of time and try and make it as difficult as possible for guys to get you out. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and I played a poor shot.


Watch the second Test between Windies and England live on Sky Sports Cricket from Thursday
Again, that is part of sport and part of life, kicking yourself and beating your head in because you did something outside of your game plan. As a player, and as a group of players, you take responsibility for the choices and the decisions you make out in the middle. That's part of pulling on an England shirt and having that honour.

I also got a bowl in Barbados and damn right I wanted a crack with the second new ball! I created the first opportunity of the day and Rooty sort of waved me off and I wasn't all that happy!

No, I just ran up from deep cover waving my hands as a joke because I knew that he was going to take the new ball. It's just things like that when you've been in the field for so long, you try and raise morale and keep guys going, even if it is a bit of a giggle or whatever.

You want to keep spirits high because that generally leads to someone making a diving stop or taking a good catch. It was a bit of a joke but I would have loved to have taken the new ball, I wouldn't have said no! But then I came back on later and got whacked back over my head - that was hard work!

Jason Holder played very well, he had a 24 hours that I'm sure he'll never forget. Credit to him, it's a Test 200 and hopefully we can come backing fighting and one of our guys can score 200 and put our group back level in the series.

Jason Holder scored an unbeaten 202 for Windies in the first Test
That's what we're focused on now and it's hard to say what type of pitch we'll be playing on. The problem when you look at a Test wicket any number of days out is that it is going to look very different the morning of day one.

But again, it is about knowing that whether we bat or bowl first, we adapt quickly to the conditions in front of us, as we did in Sri Lanka. If the ball does swing or nip around, we need to know as a bowling or a batting pack, how we're going to get through that period to give ourselves the best chance of winning the match.

Watch day one of the second Test between Windies and England, in Antigua, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 1.30pm on Thursday. You can also follow over-by-over commentary and in-play clips on our rolling blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app.