The five county cricketers of the year

In the days of Space Invaders, you could get your name on the high-scores screen multiple times – if you were good enough. Somewhere in the multiverse, there is a clunky old arcade game that flashes up: Jet 318, Jet 238, Jet 199. They were Keaton “Jet” Jennings’ three top scores for Lancashire in Division One, a run short of matching a “triple doubles” record from a very different era.

Despite playing only 11 of the 14 scheduled matches, the left-handed opener’s bounty of 1,233 runs at 72.5 proved the largest haul in the division and played a major part in Lancashire’s second-place finish. He also captained the 50-overs side to the final of the Royal London Cup, leading his county’s run-getters with 390 at 48.8.

So much for the stats. At 30, Jennings appears at ease with his game, made evident in an economy of movement into line, the good balls defended, the bad balls hit hard. He is an accomplished player of spin but looks to have the game for dealing with pace too. There’s a touch of Marcus Trescothick in his presence at the crease these days – and England might fancy some of Tres’ output from a batter who appears much more equipped to deal with the challenge of Test cricket than when last picked in February 2019.

Watching Toby Roland-Jones at Lord’s, you see this tall, strong man run in (yes, quite a long way) with the pavilion behind him and move the ball a little this way and a little that, seldom offering much that could be comfortably left, with enough pace to keep the batter honest. It makes you wonder why he didn’t make it as a Test bowler.

Then you dial up his statistics and discover that, actually, he did – it was injury that stymied him and then a sense that, at 34, his time has now passed. But he took 67