Keaton Jennings to use Dane Vilas as sounding board after becoming Lancashire captain

ELIZABETH BOTCHERBY: The England batter admits Vilas will be a "tough act to follow" after being appointed the 37th full-time skipper of the Red Rose

Keaton Jennings is under no illusion of the size of the shoes he has to fill as Lancashire captain, labelling Dane Vilas a "tough act to follow".  

Vilas spent four years as captain at Emirates Old Trafford, inheriting the role from Liam Livingstone ahead of the 2019 season.  

He oversaw Lancashire's return to Division One during his first season at the helm and later achieved back-to-back second-place finishes in the County Championship (2021, 2022) the closest the club has come to a red-ball trophy since lifting the title in 2011.

In white-ball cricket, his side reached the T20 Blast knockout stages in all four seasons, including progressing to Finals Day in 2020 and 2022.  

Upon stepping down from captaincy earlier this week, he stated his decision was in "the team's best interest". Vilas will remain at Old Trafford as an overseas player in 2023.  

Paying tribute to the former skipper, Jennings told The Cricketer: "Incredible team man, massive team first focus, a guy that will go out of his way to make sure everyone is ok.

^{Jennings captained Lancashire to the Royal London Cup final last summer (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

"He leads from the front, gets his runs, is the first person to buzz around the guys. He'll be a tough act to follow but all I can say is thank you to him because he's left the squad and my game and the character in the changing room in a much better place.  

"[When he's back from South Africa] I want to catch up with him, have a beer, pick his brain. You play that much first-class cricket, you lead the side for four years that successfully, there's a huge wealth of knowledge there to tap into. I think it's naïve if you don't."

Jennings has long been seen by many as Vilas' natural successor. Since arriving at the club in 2018, he has established himself as a key figure in all three formats and last season stepped up to skipper Lancashire in the Royal London Cup. Leading the side out in the final was "one of the highlights of my career", he told The Cricketer at the time.  

However, despite his immense pride in being appointed Lancashire's 37th full-time captain, he admits to feeling a bit awkward accepting the role.

"Chappy [Glen Chapple] rang me, last week and told me the news, and offered me the job," Jennings said. "I said yes, I was over the moon, but to be honest I felt a little bit awkward. I didn't know what to say or how to accept it, it's one of those situations you don't prepare for. I was sliding around on the ice walking home at the time."

"For me, creating a space and environment that guys love being part of, having fun, and are growing their own games and being leaders in their own space could potentially be better"

It's a reaction you'd expect from a player who describes himself as "quite a caring guy" and "quite sensitive", and his captaincy style reflects his character: empathetic, deep thinking, detail-oriented, level-headed. 

The added responsibility, he believes, actually helps his individual game: "Captaincy has taken my eyes off myself. I can get quite introverted in my own game, thinking, analysing. When you have other problems on your plate, you look outwards and suddenly things fit into shape."

He doesn't want to get "too high or too low" and have teammates pick up on his mood, and plans to lean on the likes of Vilas, Steven Croft, and Luke Wells as well as his younger teammates for advice.

"I've always been a big believer that you don't need to be captain in order to lead the squad. You can lead by being a really good follower. There's a lovely blend of older guys, younger guys, guys in the middle, so you can bounce ideas off each other," he says.  

"As captain, as a leader, it's not solely your responsibility to make a decision. You've got to take in information and listen to people and then make your own decision. The more leaders you have and the higher quality of leader you have around you, the more you empower everybody to grow. Listen, and listen well."

^{Dane Vilas, who remains with Lancashire, will be a sounding board for Jennings (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)}

And while winning silverware is, of course, every captain's dream, Jennings is keen to put everything in perspective. Cricket careers are short and should be played with "a smile on my face", he believes. If you create a "sense of fun, excitement and enjoyment" in the playing environment, only then will success follow.  

"To win the Championship or a trophy would be unbelievable," Jennings said. "For me, creating a space and environment that guys love being part of, having fun, and are growing their own games and being leaders in their own space could potentially be better.  

"Obviously you want to win, you want to lift the Championship at the end of the season, that goes without saying. But there's a huge process to it, there's so many days of cricket and so much that you need to do right. That's the outcome of being really good over the course of six months. For me, it's the environment that you're in day to day that will lead us to winning a trophy.  

"There won't be a radical change; there's lots of stuff we get really right so just continue to make a space where guys enjoy playing. At the moment it's an amazing environment. We're hoping to keep pushing towards that and making an environment that people in from the outside and think, 'I want to be a part of that'.  

"You have 10, 15, 20 years - if you're unbelievably lucky – in this game so to come into work every day excited, happy and buzzing to put in the hard work to try and win games of cricket is an exciting place to be."

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