​Lancashire can shake-off the tag of ‘nearly men’

​The England international makes the step up to permanent captain across first class, List A and T20 formats, replacing South African wicketkeeper Dane Vilas who has stepped down after four years in the role.

No stranger to taking charge, the opening batsman led the side to the final of the Royal London One Day Cup in Vilas’ absence last year where his side lost to Kent by 21 runs.

The South-African born skipper believes the number of leaders already present within the Lightning dressing room will make his job easier.

“I’m a big believer in people leading their own space and own environment,” said the 17-capped England test international.

“The more leaders you have, the easier it is to manage and grow. The captain makes the decisions on the field and with selections but if guys are managing themselves, it’s an easy job,” said Jennings who was the top run scorer in the County Championship.

English cricket’s ‘nearly-men’ as they were known last year, Lancashire finished second in all three domestic competitions, losing out to Surrey in the County Championship by 25 points, as well as a T20 Blast final ball defeat to Hampshire and a One Day Cup final defeat to Kent.

The new skipper looks back on last season with pride, and can take the positives out of coming up short in all three formats.

“You look back and think we were hurt by coming second but it was a really successful season,” he said.

“The nearly-men can be a negative thing but coming second means you’ve given yourself a chance to win three competitions.

“The lads shouldn’t be afraid of winning, we should be proud of where we are and really embrace it,” he continued.

Jennings’ impressive 2022 form, which saw him score 1,233 first class runs at an average of 72.53, earned him a first England test call-up since 2019 for their tour of Pakistan but the former Durham man failed to make an appearance as England won a series whitewash 3-0.

With a highly-anticipated Ashes series on the horizon this summer, Jennings is fully focussed on playing for his county.

“I’ve not got an eye on the Ashes squad at all to be honest, it’s not guaranteed for me,” he said. “I’ll be focussed on scoring runs for Lancashire, winning games and making sure the environment is in a really good place.”