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It should be no surprise when Keaton Jennings says he feels very comfortable and very English as he prepares to make his Test debut on Thursday.And if the words at the moment rather underline the somewhat transient nature of modern nationality, it is not an issue with which Jennings can be expected to wrestle. He is 24. And he is reaping the rewards for a decision made when he was a teenager. He has a home in Chester-le-Street. He talks fondly of his local pub. He just wants to play cricket.It is a well-trodden path that Jennings has taken into the England team. Like Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Nick Compton and many, many more, he has utilised a British passport (Jennings mother was born in Sunderland), looked at the unstable nature of South African cricket and the depth of the professional game in England, and come to an understandable conclusion. None of them were poached or coerced; they made perfectly understandable choices that have become common in a mobile, multicultural world.I sat down with my Dad and I felt it would be my best opportunity to live my dream in the UK, he explains. And Im very glad as I sit here now to have made that hard decision. The opportunity, the professionalism - I cant put my exact finger on it - but there was a welcome feeling, and feeling loved, and being pushed as well.That is not to say there are not concerns. For a start, there is an obvious dilution of talent available to the South Africa selectors. By the time South Africa tour England in the summer of 2017, it is anticipated that a new raft of Kolpak registrations will have weakened them further.It also raises questions about the English development system. Why is it, for all the money pumped into grassroots cricket, England remain so disproportionately reliant upon players born and largely developed overseas? Jennings will be - after Trott, Compton and Sam Robson - Cooks fourth opening partner born in South Africa or Australia since the retirement of Andrew Strauss, who was also born in South Africa. The differing climates may be one factor, but it is hard to ignore the suspicion that cricket - absent from most schools and many TV screens - has simply reduced in relevance across much of England and Wales. Take private schools out of the equation, and the situation looks grim.The ECB, to be fair, recognise this. It is the motivation behind their Cricket Unleashed initiative and their plans for a new-look T20. Their vehicle of change may be questionable, but many of their intentions are good.Jennings cannot be expected to worry about such matters. As if standing in the shoes of Haseeb Hameed is not hard enough - Jennings must feel like an Elvis impersonator going on stage after Elvis - he now has to deal with a fine India attack.Had he stayed in South Africa, however, Jennings might well be a seasoned international cricketer already. He captained the U19 team (in 2011, he opened the batting with Quinton de Kock in an U19 ODI against England) and, of course, he was steeped in cricket in the family home.He talks of his father often (though he refers to him as coach) and with a softness that belies the hard-man reputation Ray Jennings may have cultivated. And while there were clearly times the younger Jennings was taught some pretty tough lessons, there is little doubt it was wrapped up in the benevolence of a loving father.When I was nine or 10 we went to the nets, Keaton remembers. But it was one of the days when I decided not to listen. He threw me the first ball, I got out. Second ball, I got out. He said you get out one more time were going home. He threw me another ball, I got out. He put his bag down and walked off. From that day forward, I called him Coach. I cant remember the last time I called him dad.Having grown up in a cricket family you talk a lot about cricket. It is very intense from a training and professionalism point of view, but it was also a very loving environment. My mum softens my Dad and has taken the edge off him at home. From the persona of someone who is a hard and concentred man, in the family house he is very loving and gentle.Weve got a very good relationship. Im probably closer to him than I am to anybody else in the world. Hes my father, a role model and a coach. Im blessed to have a person in my life that I trust with my life and that will help me guide my career.Most of the advice passed on from father to son in recent days - and Ray has copious experience as an IPL coach - has been practical in nature. Drink lots of water and make sure its closed bottles, was one of his bigger tips, Keaton says.But there has been a deeper theme to his advice. Despite the cricket drills and apparently intense concentration upon success in the game, Keaton was also taught to embrace other aspects of life and understand that there is much more to it than sport. So he is currently studying for a degree in financial accounting and puts his much-improved performance in 2016 (he scored seven first-class centuries in the season; he had scored five in total before that) down to having found happiness outside the game.My dad made me do one thing in my life and that was to study, he explains. I take my hat off to him. Im really thankful he pushed me in that direction.And he has told me to enjoy the process and the culture of India.Kosuke Fukudome Jersey .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. Kerry Wood Cubs Jersey . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. https://www.cheapcubs.com/1460t-brad-wieck-jersey-cubs.html . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Xavier Cedeno Cubs Jersey . And follow TSN.ca right through Deadline Day for all the updates. From Pierre LeBrun While Anaheim GM Bob Murray said earlier this season he was not going to trade Jonas Hiller despite the fact hes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, some sources have told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun that Murray might be willing to move another goalie. Kerry Wood Jersey . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta.The big race of this weekend is Saturdays Arlington Million at Arlington Park, just north of Chicago. And it says a lot about a race when it can wrest the stakes spotlight this time of year from Saratoga and Del Mar.Then again, the Arlington Million has always been a big deal. Its a true trailblazer that broke a glass ceiling the previous existence of which now seems almost quaint.The Arlington Million was first run in 1981, and its inaugural running was won by the great John Henry narrowly over The Bart in a photo that some folks dispute to this very day. As if to address the matter, John Henry went back to Arlington three years later and won the 1984 Million decisively.In any case, the thrilling finish of the first Million was really only part of the story, and maybe not even the biggest part. The Million was special before it was even consummated, and that was because of its purse.As the name suggests, the Arlington Million carried a purse of $1,000,000, making it the first ever million dollar Thoroughbred race. And that made it a major deal in the racing world, and I mean world. The then outsized purse proved a powerful lure for overseas horsemen, spurring international competition.Its funny, but I feel as though I have to explain what a thing it was for the Million to break the seven-figure purse barrier because many who became fans of the sport later on might not fully comprehend the significance of the moment.This is understandable. Certainly the advent and evolution of the Breeders Cup has reset the frame of reference of what big purses in U.S. Thoroughbred racing mean. This year, the 13 Breeders Cup races will have a total value of $25.5 million, with a minimum purse of $1 million that actually applies only to five Breeders Cup races, and spiraling up to $4 million for the Turf, to $6 million for the Classic.ddddddddddddBut even when you set aside the 13 Breeders Cup races, it might surprise you to know that the Arlington Million, once all alone in terms of value, now has company this year in the form of a staggering 29 other North American stakes with seven figure purses.The Triple Crown races are, of course, members of this club. The 2016 Kentucky Derby had a purse of $2 million, while the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes had purses of $1.5 million, each.The state-to-state breakdown of where these seven figure stakes are run is quite revealing. The Belmont Stakes is one of 11 million-dollar plus events this year in New York, by far the most of any state when you exclude the Breeders Cup, which you must since it is a floating country unto itself, although not nearly as much as it used to be.The state with the next highest number of million dollar-plus races is Kentucky, which has three others in addition to the Derby.Its a bit surprising to me that California has only three million dollar races to call its own (the Breeders Cup will be at Santa Anita this year, but ?), the same as Canada, and only one more than Louisiana and Pennsylvania. But I was also surprised that Florida, which is a major racing center for about 4-1/2 months a year, has only one seven figure race, the same number as West Virginia.That, however, is scheduled to change on Jan. 28, the date of the inaugural $12 million Pegasus World Cup, which, for the moment, anyway, has surpassed the $10 million Dubai World Cup as the richest horse race in the world.Man, just look at what the Arlington Million started. ' ' '