Sri Lanka are simply demolished by Denly
Rashid and Moeen Ali in a three-strong spin attack in Galle.
Denly was named man of the match and said: “It’s been quite a while since I was in England colours and I am delighted to be back and contributing to the win, so yeah, very happy.”
When asked about his nerves on his return to the international scene, he replied: “Yeah obviously there’s a few nerves there, no doubt about that, but more excitement than anything. It’s been a long time and I’ve been really looking forward to it.”
On batting down the order compared to his position as an opener for county side Kent, Denly said: “Obviously it was a new experience for me but I managed to contribute a bit and I’m happy to get us up to a decent score.”
He added about his bowling: “I think I land my leg-spinner generally pretty well. I think being predominantly a batter, I get a good sense of what the batter is going to try and do and I think that helps certainly batting at the top of the order.”
England might still have struggled without Jason Roy’s 69 – a devil-may-care knock that included six sixes, four fours, four dropped catches and all the fun of the fair.
England captain Eoin Morgan said: “I thought it was an outstanding comeback by Joe Denly.
“Nine years ago he came into the side as an opening batsman and he’s come back as a very good all-rounder.”
England signed off the limited-overs leg of their Sri Lankan tour with a return to winning ways in Colombo as Joe Denly ended an eight-year exile in style.
England have played 384 international matches since Denly last appeared on the big stage – a low-key outing against Pakistan in February 2010.
But he did more than enough to justify his second chance as the tourists reasserted themselves with a 30-run victory just four days after a record one-day defeat on the same ground.
Having scored 20 of England’s 187 for eight the 32-year-old took the spotlight with his reborn leg-spin, topping and tailing the innings to finish with four for 19 – the best figures of his career.
On any ordinary day, Adil Rashid’s outstanding spell of three for 11 would have dominated, but this was a chance to celebrate Kent’s comeback kid, whose chances of appearing in the forthcoming Test series have surely spiked.
His bowling was little more than an afterthought when in his early England days but Denly has worked hard on it and may now join