Eight years in the international wilderness may have seen lesser cricketers give up on the dream of one day returning to the highest level. But not Joe Denly.
And on a steamy night in Colombo the 32-year-old’s unwavering belief culminated in a fairytale comeback for his country, bowling England to a 30-run victory over Sri Lanka in their one-off Twenty20 with career-best figures of four for 19 off his leg-spin.
There were other standout performances in a match that saw Eoin Morgan’s side end the rain-affected white-ball leg of their tour with the record: played six, won four, lost one.
Adil Rashid claimed three for 11 from four overs, underlining his confidence and form at present, while Chris Jordan helped close the deal with for two for 29 after jetting in for this match alone. Jason Roy had earlier led the way with the bat too, crashing an eventful 69 from 36 balls that helped set the hosts 188 to win.
But few could begrudge Denly being handed the over-sized cheque for man of the match, having chipped in a useful 20 from an unfamiliar position at No7 in England’s 187 for eight – he opens for Kent – before wiping out the stumps of both openers with the new ball.
When he finished off with two wickets in the final over to see Sri Lanka bowled out for 157, it capped a remarkable evening for a player who was discarded on the eve of England’s World Twenty20 win in 2010 and has scarcely featured in selection debates since; until his one-time county colleague Ed Smith took over this year.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Denly, whose absence has spanned 384 England matches across all formats. “Never give up on that dream. I certainly feel a different player to where I was back then and I came in with the attitude of embracing it and enjoying every moment of it.”
The total that resulted from England being asked to bat – one sliced in two by an hour of rain at 11.2 overs – was a pretty harum-scarum affair, not least for Roy who found incident at every turn.
On 20 he survived a return catch to Isuru Udana. Two balls later Sri Lanka were appealing for obstruction after a shy at the stumps struck his backside. In the one over from Lakshan Sandakan he was dropped twice on 34 and 41 – two shoddy efforts in the deep – and there was another on 53 as Kamindu Mendis, the ambidextrous spinner, was denied a wicket on debut by a tumbling deep cover.
Roy, who had earlier lost Jos Buttler and Alex Hales in the space of three balls – the latter wrongly adjudged lbw when sweeping Amila Aponso to end a miserable tour of 16 runs from three innings – was also one half of a slapstick run-out that saw Morgan depart for 11.
But these madcap moments should not detract from some fearsome shots along the way, as Roy opened his account second ball by slotting Lasith Malinga over long-off for six before clearing the rope a further five times. Of his four fours, a slapped drive through cover off Mendis was anything but ambiguous.
Roy’s departure, caught behind trying to cut Sandakan, came just moments before the rain delay and from 113 for four England’s innings fizzled out a touch. Moeen Ali blazed 27 from 11 balls but was bowled on the sweep, while Ben Stokes stuttered a touch with 26 from 27 as he and Denly were undone by Malinga’s low-slung wizardry.
It may have been unfamiliar territory for Denly but, having developed his wrist-spin over the past few years, being asked to take the new ball in Twenty20 is certainly not. In his first two overs his slider crashed into the stumps of Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis to derail the chase from the outset.
Rashid was not to be upstaged on a heady night for English leg-spin, snuffing out a surge by Dinesh Chandimal and Mendis as Hales salvaged something from his trip with a pair of cool catches on the rope. When the Yorkshireman trapped Dhananjaya de Silva lbw for 17 on review in the 11th over, Sri Lanka sat 77 for five.
From there it was a case of closing out the game. And though the hulking Thisara Perera struck six sixes amid a 31-ball 57, any meaningful support was vaporised by Liam Plunkett yorking the last recognized batsman in Dasun Shanaka.
Jordan picked up the tail-end pairing of Udana and Amila Aponso – the former clothing a full toss to mid-off, the latter castled by another toe-crusher – before Denly returned for the final over to have Perera caught on the rope and bowl Malinga neck and crop.
