article: He has not scored the runs, and his technical difficulties around fourth stump have not withstood the severe cross-examination of the high-profile media pundits who fuel the opinions of so many others in and around the sport. It's a tough place to be - knowing you are good enough to excel but feeling so out of form, and feeling your chances of success are diminishing innings by innings, partly because of the unwelcome focus on you when the selectors' guillotine is hovering over your head. The only way to rid yourself of it is to score big runs. Hopefully Jennings can find his best form again for Durham and return for England's Ashes tour this winter. He may even discover that his style of play is better suited to Australian conditions. The England selectors will have debated whether or not to allow him an extended spell in the team. Maybe he would have come through the experience a better player? But playing with the axe hanging over you is not helpful to recovering your best form. I felt in May of 2013 that if Alastair Cook and I had the opportunity to open together for the whole summer, we could have made a real go of the job. The lack of backing I received was because of my poor performances against New Zealand, but I reckon if I could have been allowed to move through that challenging learning experience of my first real dip in form as an England player, I would have been better for it. After all, my partnership with Cook was a success in terms of the runs we put on together, and the team was winning matches and series. Moving through the difficult learning process of being a newcomer to Test cricket is not straightforward and, should a player receive the full support of selection when experiencing a dip in form, it offers a healthy return on the investment of your initial selection. Very few players experience a consistent graph of top performance in their first 15 Tests, but the best ones benefit from the exposure and learning over time. After all, South Africa's Jacques Kallis did not enjoy the best of starts to his Test career and look what happened to him. Now the focus of attention is on Mark Stoneman, who looks set to become England's oldest debutant this century when England face West Indies in the first Test at Edgbaston on Thursday. England's selectors have received much criticism for the number of players coming and going since the days of Geoff Miller when the panel embraced a 'consistency and continuity' policy. Rather than blaming the selectors, it is ultimately down to players to be in charge of their own destiny and make the most of any chance that comes their way. If anyone is looking for a scapegoat for England's recent problems at the top of the order, then I can recommend pointing the finger at me. If I had taken my first chance with both hands in 2013 as Andrew Strauss' replacement, none of
summary: I watched England's final Test against South Africa and really felt for Keaton Jennings.