Jennings, 26, has played 16 Tests so far, but averages just 25.86. He was under particularly intense scrutiny during the blockbuster series against India last summer, when he managed a high score of 42 in five matches.

There has since been a century against Sri Lanka in Galle in November, but after falling for scores of 17 and 14 in Barbados in the first Test against West Indies, the pressure is back on the England opener.

“Sometimes, you’ve got to absorb that pressure and counteract it. When you do that, you get bad balls, and you can put them away.”

Textbook quotes find a new orator in Rory Burns, who calls for patience from the England batsmen.https://t.co/k4OrhilMds

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 30, 2019

Jennings describes himself as a naturally intense person, and that doesn’t always help him at the Test level, he said.

“Test cricket is a ruthless environment and you’ve got to have a thick skin in order to push yourself through the bad patches, when you don’t feel in great form,” he said.

“But one of Cookie’s biggest tricks was that he was always so balanced, regardless of what had happened in the last match, whether he’d scored 0, 100 or whatever.

With the multitude of all-rounders at their disposal, England could almost pick any combination of the 14 players originally in the squad and still have a viable Test team. @Yas_Wisden on the five players who most likely to miss out in Antigua. #WIvENGhttps://t.co/i202ne3DWl

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 29, 2019

“He taught me that you’ve got to be very clear in your head about the way you want to go about scoring runs, and you’ve got to be honest with yourself at times, when you’re making errors. It’s a mental game. Sometimes you just have to bluff yourself that everything’s going okay.”

The second Test in Antigua begins on Thursday, January 31.